THE   BUILDING  OF  THE  CITY 
BEAUTIFUL 


THE   BUILDING 


OF 


THE    CITY    BEAUTIFUL 


BY  JOAQUIN  MILLER 


ALBERT  BRANDT:    PUBLISHER 

TRENTON,  NEW  JERSEY 

1905 


Copyright,  1904-1905,  by  Albert  Brandt 

Entered  at  Stationers'  Hall 
Copyright,  1893,  by  C.  H.  Miller 


Printed  at  THE  BRANDT  PRESS,  Trenton,  New   Jirsiy,  U.  S.  A. 


TO 
ANDREW    CARNEGIE 

The  Buildtr  of  Libraries 
Beautiful 


260108 


THE  FOUNDATION  stones  of  «THE 
CITY  BEAUTIFUL"  were  hewn  out  in 
Jerusalem  and  other  Bible  Lands  of  the  Orient 
long  ago.  After  many  years  they  were  gathered 
up  and  the  building  went  slowly  on  as  I  planted 
and  wrought  hard  with  hands  and  head  away 
out  here  by  the  great  Sundown  Seas.  Three 
small  editions  of  parts  of  this  book  appeared 
in  1894,  when  the  plates  were  melted.  It  was 
never  really  published  till  now  so  far  as  press 
and  public  are  concerned,  the  small  and  un 
finished  editions  being  absorbed  mainly  by 
personal  friends. 

J.  M. 

THE  MIGHTS, 

DIMOND,  CALIFORNIA. 


CONTENTS 

Page 

««  MOTHER   AND    HER   BOY,"   ....    Frontispiece 
I.    AN    OLD    WOMAN   WITH    A   LOAD   OF 

WOOD, ii 

II.     "FEED  MY  SHEEP," za 

III.  "THE    TIME    is    FULFILLED,  AND    THE 

KINGDOM   OF  GOD   is  AT  HAND,"  32 

IV.  THE  GROWING  OF  A  SOUL,     ....  41 
V.    How  BEAUTIFUL! 48 

VI.    THE  SERMON  ON  THE  MOUNT,    ...  53 

VII.    IN  THE  SWEAT  OF  THY  FACE,    ...  59 

VIII.    THE  CHRIST  IN  EGYPT, 83 

IX.    AWAITING  THE  RESURRECTION  AT  KAR- 

NAK,      .     .           .           88 

X.    THE  VOICE  OF  TOIL, 99 

XI.    THE  FOUNDATION  STONES,      .     .     .     .  107 

XII.    THE  FIRST  LAW  OF  GOD,       .     .     .     .  izo 

XIII.  FALLEN  BY  THE  WAY, i»9 

XIV.  UNDER  THE  OLIVE-TREES,       .     .     .     .  138 
XV.     As   WHEN    THE    CHRIST   SHALL    COME 

AGAIN, 151 

9 


Contents 

XVI.     BEHOLD,  THE  CITY  BEAUTIFUL!  .     .  158 

XVII.     IN  HER  PRESENCE  AT  LAST,      .     .     .  165 
XVIII.     GIVE     Us     THIS     DAY     OUR     DAILY 

BREAD, i79 

XIX.    THE  TOIL  OF  GOD, 191 

XX.     WHEN  MAN  is  NOT  WATCHING  MAN,  205 

XXI.    LESSONS  NOT  IN  BOOKS, 211 

XXII.    THE  TRULY  BRAVE, 217 

XXIII.  GOING, 227 

XXIV.  PUT  UP  THY  SWORD, 232 


10 


THE   BUILDING  OF  THE 
CITY   BEAUTIFUL 


/. — An  Old  Woman  With  a  Load  of 
Wood 

"  Now  HE  is  dead.      Far  hence  he  lies 

In  that  lorn  Syrian  town  j 
And  o'er  his  grave  with  pitying  eyes 
The  Syrian  stars  look  down." 

"  How  hardly  shall  they  that  have  riches  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  God  !  For  it  is  easier  for  a  camel  to  go 
through  a  needle's  eye,  than  for  a  rich  man  to  enter  into 
the  kingdom  of  God." 

SIR  MOSES  MONTEFIORE,  of  the  house 
of  Rothschilds,  and  one  of  the  very  richest 
men  in  all  the  world,  was  in  Jerusalem.     It  was 
his  last  of  more  than  a  score  of  pilgrimages  to 
the  Holy  City. 

He  had  founded  little  colonies  near  Bethle 
hem  and  in  many  places  round  about  Jerusalem. 
True,  he  was  very  old  now ;  but  this  remark 
able  man,  who  lived  for  more  than  a  century, 
was  still  full  of  purpose. 


'The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

His  last  coming  had  created  quite  a  sensation 
among  the  Jews  as  a  matter  of  course.  The  great 
hospital  hard  by,  the  burial  ground,  the  syna 
gogue, — all  these  were  his  gifts  to  the  Jewish 
people,  and  they  were  not  ungrateful. 

As  for  the  Christians,  they  were  scarcely  less 
eager  to  see  the  very  rich  old  man.  Bibles  were 
opened,  and  the  lines  at  the  head  of  this  chapter 
were  read  over  and  over  again. 

The  man's  great  age  now  compelled  him  to 
leave  the  direction  of  his  work  almost  entirely  to 
others.  Still  he  must  know  all  that  had  been 
done  in  his  long  absence  in  London.  He  wanted 
to  know  just  how  the  little  colonies  were  getting 
on.  Were  the  people  from  Poland  content  ? 
Were  the  Peasant  Jews  from  Russia  united  and 
tolerant  of  their  less  stalwart  brothers  ?  Strange 
how  much  stronger  were  those  of  the  extreme 
North  than  those  who  had  been  for  generations 
in  Jerusalem  and  other  warm  lands  ! 

There  were  Jews  returning  to  Jerusalem  from 
the  banks  of  the  Volga  after  an  absence  of  a 
thousand  years !  and  these  were  strong  men. 
They  had  crept  out  from  under  the  snows  of 
Russia  and  come  down  to  the  city  of  David  with 


An  Old  Woman  With  a  Load  of  Wood 

hair  almost  yellow  and  eyes  as  blue  as  their 
sacred  Syrian  skies.  Their  expulsion  from  Jeru 
salem  had  surely  done  them  good. 

The  Jews  of  all  kinds  and  of  all  countries  who 
had  been  established  in  their  new  homes  by  Sir 
Moses  came  pouring  in  through  the  various  gates 
and  passes  on  this  day  of  his  arrival. 

And  a  little  crowd  of  Christians,  after  reading 
over  and  over  again  the  words  of  Christ  to  the 
ruler  who  was  very  rich,  went  down  to  a  narrow 
pass  leading  to  the  dirty  and  dismal  market  in 
the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat. 

Peasants  were  crowding  through  the  narrow 
pass,  about  which  so  much  has  been  said  and 
written,  and  about  which  really  nothing,  so  far  as 
the  words  of  Christ  are  concerned,  is  understood. 
And  a  tall,  dark  woman  stood  there,  looking  at 
the  crowding  peasants, — a  young  and  strangely 
beautiful  woman,  silent,  serene,  dignified,  and 
commanding. 

Some  of  the  people  had  heavy  loads  on  their 
backs  ;  one  had  a  lamb,  one  carried  only  a  dove. 
They  were  all  on  their  way  to  market.  They 
then  would  go  and  see  Sir  Moses,  and  possibly 
beg  some  money. 

'3 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

How  they  did  jostle  and  wrangle,  and  abuse 
and  bully  one  another !  The  man  with  only  a 
dove  to  carry  would  not  give  an  inch  of  road  or 
room  to  an  old  woman  who  was  bowed  almost 
to  the  ground  under  a  load  of  sticks. 

It  was  altogether  a  sad  picture,  and  the  serenely 
beautiful  face  of  the  silent  woman,  who  stood 
there  on  the  edge  of  the  group  of  garrulous  tour 
ists,  grew  sad  at  the  sight  of  it. 

Time,  then,  taught  nothing.  Each  was  for 
himself  as  of  old.  No  pity,  no  sympathy,  no 
sincerity  !  They  were  all  mad,  in  haste  to  have 
done  with  their  marketing  so  that  they  might  run 
to  where  Sir  Moses  lodged  and  be  the  first  to 
beg  a  little  money. 

But  this  tall,  dark  woman  on  the  outside  of  the 
group  of  Christians  was  very  patient.  The  dust 
of  travel  was  still  on  her  sable  garments.  She  was 
seeking  in  vain  for  some  gentle  soul  in  that  multi 
tude  of  loud,  aggressive,  and  half-savage  Jews. 

After  the  peasants  had  all  crowded  through  and 
left  the  "  Needle's  Eye  "  to  the  inspection  of  the 
group  of  Christians,  she  turned  with  a  sigh  to  go 
away. 

Suddenly  some  one  in  the  knot  of  people  who 
14 


An  Old  Woman  With  a  Load  of  Wood 

held  red  guide-books  in  their  hands,  said  emphat 
ically  and  right  in  her  face : 

"  That  settles  it  for  the  rich  man,  I  guess. 
Sir  Moses  ought  to  put  his  money  on  a  camel's 
back  and  see  if  it  could  get  through  the  Eye  of 
the  Needle,  eh  ?  " 

There  is  an  intoxication  not  always  of  the 
wine-glass.  Men  and  women  say  things  and  do 
things  in  foreign  places,  especially  when  in 
crowds,  which  they  would  not  say  or  do  if  alone 
and  at  home.  Set  a  guard  at  the  portals  ;  and  if 
you  cannot  keep  sober,  you  can  at  least  keep 
silent.  Every  one  at  certain  times  and  in  certain 
places  is  entitled  to  his  own  thoughts.  They  are 
his  property  more  entirely  than  his  own  money  is 
his.  He  has  journeyed  far  to  meditate  here.  This 
rare  moment  has  cost  him  much.  And  yet  he 
oftentimes  hears  only  a  rushing  of  feet  over 
sacred  ground,  and  a  Babel  of  voices  in  solemn 
abbey  or  sublime  cathedral.  At  such  times  one 
thanks  God  that  man  is  so  very  insignificant  that 
he  may  not  be  heard  far. 

The  tall,  dark  lady  did  not  reply.  She  prefer 
red  to  pass  on  and  seem  not  to  hear.  The  better 
portion  of  the  crowd  of  tourists  were  angered ; 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

but  as  two  or  three  laughed  their  assent  the  man 
repeated  his  remark  to  the  silent  woman,  thinking, 
perhaps,  that  she  did  not  understand  English. 

This  young  woman — was  she  a  Jewess  ? — 
was  traveling  with  Sir  Moses  Montefiore,  as  sec 
retary,  or  something  of  the  sort.  The  remark 
able  philanthropist,  as  said  before,  was  making 
the  last  of  more  than  a  score  of  pilgrimages  to 
the  city  of  David.  He  had  spent  millions  on 
millions  in  his  noble  effort  to  re-people  Palestine. 

As  you  go  up  toward  Jerusalem  from  the  sea 
you  pass  by  pleasant  little  settlements,  new  and 
fair  and  verdant  as  if  in  Idaho.  Indeed,  nearly  all 
of  the  land  of  Syria  seems  much  like  the  varied 
plains  that  stretch  from  the  slopes  of  Idaho  south 
ward  to  the  sea  of  Cortez, — cattle  and  sheep  and 
horses,  little  fields  of  grain,  orchards,  thrift  and 
industry,  in  spots,  as  on  our  plains  to-day. 

It  was  mainly  to  look  after  these,  and  to  add 
to  them  with  those  of  his  people  who  were  being 
driven  out  of  Russia,  that  the  old  Israelite  had 
resolved  to  come  once  more  all  the  way  from 
London  at  his  advanced  age. 

And  it  was  the  good  fortune  of  his  coming 
that  caused  a  new  man  of  the  new  world  and 
16 


An  Old  Woman  With  a  Load  of  Wood 

this  wondrously  beautiful  and  strong  and  strange 
woman  of  the  old  world  to  meet  together  at  the 
Eye  of  the  Needle.  Let  us  not  recount  the 
details  of  their  meeting.  (^Strong  souls  meet_sud- 
denly,  as  rivers  meet  when  rushing  to  the  same 
great  sea^ 

"  Yes,  that  gate  settles  the  fate  of  the  rich 
man,"  added  one  of  the  crowd.  The  new  man 
of  the  new  world  was  indignant. 

And  now  her  great,  dark  eye  took  fire.  Her 
brow  grew  dark.  Her  dark  immensity  of  hair 
seemed  to  take  on  a  faint  tinge  of  fire  about  the 
face  and  at  the  tips.  The  new  man  of  the  new 
world  did  not  know  at  this  time,  nor  did  she 
deign  to  tell  any  one, — for  she  was  a  woman  of 
few  words,  like  all  really  great  women, — that 
she  stood  in  very  close  relation  to  one  of  the 
very  richest  men  in  the  world. 

Again  she  turned  to  go  in  silence.  The  man, 
who  had  only  half  concealed  his  indignation  at 
the  persistence  of  the  garrulous  tourist,  stepped 
forward,  hat  in  hand,  but  said  nothing.  He  was 
not  of  the  group  of  people  who  had  come,  guide 
books  in  hand,  to  see  the  so-called  Eye  of  the 
Needle.  Perhaps  he  had  seen  all  there  was  to 
z  17 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

see  there  long  before.  You  can  generally  dis 
tinguish  traveled  from  untraveled  people  by  their 
quiet  bearing. 

The  woman  turned/ the  third  time  to  pass  in 
silence ;  but  still  she  persisted  in  glancing  back. 

Is  it  the  remnant  of  wild  beast  in  ire  still  that 
makes  all  hunted  or  wounded  human  beings  turn 
quickly  about  to  give  battle  ?  But  here  was  a 
battle  in  her  own  heart.  She  was  bursting  with 
indignation,  yet  she  had  trained  her  soul  to  soar 
above  resentment.  So  the  cloud  that  lowered 
about  her  glorious  face  blew  over  as  the  stranger 
stood  respectfully  before  her.  But  she  did  not 
address  herself  to  him  or  seem  to  note  him  at  all. 
She  was  concerned  only  to  answer  the  man  who 
had  so  persistently  referred  to  the  fate  of  the  rich 
man.  Slowly  and  softly  she  said : 

"  Yes,  I  have  read,  and  I  have  also  heard  it 
from  the  pulpit,  that  it  was  to  this  gate  that  Jesus 
Christ  referred  when  he  spoke  of  the  rich  man." 

The  tall,  grand  woman  drew  her  loose  mantle 
more  closely  about  her  throat,  and  lifting  her  eyes 
looked  away  toward  the  hill  on  which  stood  the 
camp  of  Titus  when  Jerusalem  was  overthrown; 
and  without  intending  it,  or  really  knowing  that 
18 


An  Old  Woman  With  a  Load  of  Wood 

she  did  so,  she  looked  entirely  above  the  man 
before  her  as  she  went  on  in  an  earnest,  far-away 
voice : 

44  Yes,  men  have  published,  and  men  have 
stood  up  and  proclaimed,  that  Jesus  referred  to 
this  gate  when  he  spoke  of  the  eye  of  the  needle, 
because  it  was  so  extremely  hard  for  a  camel  to 
pass  through  here.  That  is  to  say,  a  camel  could 
pass  through  it  only  with  great  difficulty."  She 
paused,  her  proud  lip  curled  as  she  continued  : 

41  How  pitiful  and  helpless  this  interpretation, 
and  yet  how  simple  and  sublime  the  few  plain 
words  of  Jesus  Christ !  Let  us  read  them  !  " 
and  as  if  reading  in  the  air  she  repeated  :  " 4  How 
hardly  shall  they  that  have  riches  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  God  !  It  is  easier  for  a  camel  to  go 
through  a  needle's  eye,  than  for  a  rich  man  to 
enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God.' " 

She  paused,  still  looking  far  away  ;  then  she 
said  :  4t  That  is  to  say,  it  is  literally  easier  for  a 
camel  to  pass  through  the  eye  of  a  needle  than 
for  a  man  to  pass  into  heaven  after  death  with 
his  riches  on  his  back.  He  must  lay  aside  his 
wealth  at  the  door  of  death,  and  enter  the  king 
dom  of  God  poor  as  the  poorest." 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

She  turned  to  go,  and  then  again  came  back. 

u  Sir  Moses  Montefiore,"  she  said  gently,  "  is 
a  very  rich  man  to-day,  one  of  the  richest  in  the 
world  j  yet  surely  if  any  rich  man  enters,  or 
ever  has  entered,  the  kingdom  of  God  he  will. 
No,  no  !  To  say  that  the  divine  young  Jew, 
Jesus,  shut  the  gates  of  heaven  in  the  face  of  a 
man  because  he  had  riches  on  earth,  would  be  to 
say  that  he  was  not  Christ  at  all.  True,  he  said 
to  the  rich  man,  a  ruler  who  came  to  ask  him  the 
way, l  Sell  all  that  thou  hast,  and  distribute  unto 
the  poor,  .  .  .  and  come,  follow  me.'  But  this 
must  have  meant  a  literal  following  ;  for  soon  he 
took  unto  him  the  twelve  and  said  unto  them, 
c  Behold,  we  go  up  to  Jerusalem,  and  all  things 
that  are  written  by  the  prophets  concerning  the 
Son  of  Man  shall  be  accomplished/  ' 

The  crowd  had  melted  away,  all  but  one  man. 
This  man  had  bowed  his  head  as  she  continued 
to  speak.  When  she  ceased,  his  chin  was  on 
his  breast  and  his  hat  was  still  in  his  hand.  He 
knew  he  was  hearing  the  voice  of  a  soul.  But 
who  could  she  be  ?  She  spoke  English  fluently, 
yet  with  an  accent.  She  had  been  conversing  in 
French  with  a  party  as  he  approached.  There 


An  Old  Woman  With  a  Load  of  Wood 

was  a  Catholic  priest  in  this  French  party,  and 
was  she  not  a  Jewess  ?  A  Jewess  knowing  more 
of  Christ  than  Christians  ! 

"All  civilized  peoples,  whether  Jews  or 
Christians,  of  to-day  are  comparatively  rich ; 
and  when  this  world  shall  be  all  civilized  we 
shall  all  be  very  rich.  Yet  shall  we  not  all  enter 
the  kingdom  of  God  ?  " 

These  few  last  words  of  the  dark  and  silent 
woman  were  said  as  if  entirely  to  herself. 


II.— "Feed  My  Sheep" 

COME,  let  us  ponder  ;  it  is  fit — 

Born  of  the  poor,  born  to  the  poor — 

The  poor  of  purse,  the  poor  of  wit 
Were  first  to  find  God's  opening  door, 

Were  first  to  climb  the  ladder,  round  by  round, 

That  fell  from  heaven's  door  unto  the  ground. 

God's  poor  came  first,  the  very  first ! 

God's  poor  were  first  to  see,  to  hear, 
To  feel  the  light  of  heaven  burst 

Full  on  their  faces  far  or  near, 
His  poor  were  first  to  follow,  first  to  fall ! 
What  if  at  last  His  poor  stand  forth  the  first  of  all? 

THIS  is  not  entirely  a  love  story.  It  is  not 
a  religious  or  irreligious  story.  It  is  the 
record  of  one,  or  rather  two  persons  who  believed 
that  man  is  not  only  entitled  to  the  pursuit  of 
happiness  but  to  the  attainment  of  happiness,  real 
and  substantial,  upon  earth. 

The  woman,  Miriam,  was  indeed  a  Jewess,  a 
Jewess — and  it  is  said  with  reverence — as  Mary, 
the  mother  of  Christ,  was  a  Jewess. 

She  was  from  Russia,  or,  more  properly,  from 
Siberia,  where  she  had  spent  her  hard,  bitter  girl 
hood  sitting  by  her  broken  and  exiled  father's  bed. 


"Feed  My  Sheep  " 

Death,  his  death,  had  liberated  them  both  at  once, 
and  she  had  gone  direct  to  London,  and  found 
employment  with  Sir  Moses  in  his  effort  to  amel 
iorate  the  condition  of  her  people. 

Her  trustworthiness,  her  quiet  wisdom  in  all 
matters  intrusted  to  her,  had  soon  placed  her  in 
the  highest  position  and  most  influential  relations 
with  the  great  men  of  her  race.  But  she  was 
growing,  growing  rapidly,  and  soon  she  grew 
beyond  the  narrow  limits  of  race  or  creed.  She 
came  to  believe  in  all  good  of  all  religion.  Forms 
and  fashions  she  put  aside,  as  the  cloth  that 
covered  His  face  was  put  aside  on  the  third  day. 

Miriam  was  a  devout  worshiper  in  the  syna 
gogue.  She  had  knelt  quite  as  devoutly  before 
the  Greek  cross  in  the  Kremlin,  had  bowed  low 
in  the  mosque  of  Omar,  and  had  crossed  herself 
reverently  in  St.  Peter's ;  for  she  loved  all  peo 
ples,  and  she  pitied  all  peoples  in  all  their  pitiful 
forms  of  idolatry. 

Her  heart  was  almost  broken  here,  this  first 
morning  of  her  arrival  at  the  city  of  David  and 
Solomon.  For  here,  in  the  very  dust  and  ashes 
of  the  Temple,  she  saw  the  same  old  hates, 
enmities,  jealousies,  narrowness,  and  uncleanli- 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

ness  of  soul  and  of  body  ;  narrow  and  unclean  as 
the  little  gate  through  which  her  people  crowded. 

What  had  two  thousand  years  done  for  God's 
people  ?  They  had  not  been  borne  forward  at 
all.  The  world,  Pagan,  Christian,  Jew,  under 
the  old  system  of  selfish  money-getting,  place 
and  power-seeking,  was  still  the  same.  The 
old  order  of  things  had  been  on  trial,  in  all  climes 
and  under  all  conditions,  for  years  and  years,  and 
what  was  the  result  ?  Sorrow,  suicide,  despair. 
Man  stood  staring  on  before  him,  even  in  the 
most  civilized  places  and  under  the  most  favor 
able  conditions,  and  kept  asking,  "  Is  life  worth 
living  ? " 

"  God  in  heaven  !  "  she  cried  ;  "  with  all  this 
glory  of  sky  and  earth,  the  sweet  air,  the  flowers 
and  birds,  our  boundless  capacity  for  enjoyment, 
shall  the  world  still  be  joyless  ?  Why,  every 
breath,  even  to  the  most  wretched,  should  be  to 
Him  as  a  benediction.  Yes,"  she  continued  very 
seriously,  "  this  old  order  of  things  has  been  on 
trial  long  enough ;  and  if  we  could  and  should 
restore  Jerusalem  to-day  in  all  her  ancient  splen 
dor,  what  then  ?  Why,  some  new  Rome  would 
rise  to  encompass  her.  There  would  be  born 
24 


"Feed  My  Sheep91 

within  her  walls  another  Simon  and  another 
John,  with  all  their  burning  hates  and  jealousies  ; 
and  the  streets  would  run  with  blood  the  same 
as  two  thousand  years  ago.  Then  why  restore 
her  ?  Men  would  stand  on  the  Temple's  porch, 
as  in  the  high  places  of  London  and  Paris  to-day, 
and  gravely  ask,  *  Is  life  worth  living  ? '  " 

The  man,  with  his  hat  in  his  hand  and  his 
head  bowed,  was  again  before  her.  He  lifted 
his  face  slowly  to  hers. 

"You  were  pained  at  what  those  tourists  said?" 

u  Those  tourists  ?  I  had  forgotten  them.  But 
I  was  greatly  pained  to  see  these  poor  people 
with  their  burdens,  great  or  small,  crowding  in 
such  rude  competition  to  the  market." 

" c  Competition  is  the  life  of  trade,'  "  he  said 
lightly ;  not  that  he  felt  that  there  was  any  truth 
or  any  good  of  any  sort  in  this  old  saw,  but  he 
said  it  as  all  of  us  who  have  not  considered  the 
sanctity  of  speech  will  say  silly  things.  Ah,  how 
much  wiser  we  should  all  be  were  we  dumb  as 
beasts,  or,  at  least,  as  silent ! 

In  a  moment  the  flashing  of  her  dark  eyes  told 
him  he  had  not  said  quite  what  he  should  have  said. 

"  4  Competition  the  life  of  trade  ! '  "  she  began, 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

as  if  to  herself.  u  These  old  sayings  are  more 
than  millstones  about  the  neck  of  this  world. 
Trade !  what  is  trade  ?  No  wonder  that  the 
English  gentlemen  centuries  ago  forbade  those  in 
trade  to  sit  at  their  tables  or  to  come  into  the 
presence  of  their  king.  Not  one  of  the  million 
tradesmen  ever  grew  one  grain  of  corn,  or  fed  so 
much  as  one  little  bird.  They  battle  to  the  death 
among  themselves  in  this  competition  of  trade ; 
ninety  in  every  hundred  fall  on  this  field  of  com 
petition  ;  they  sacrifice  time,  truth,  honor,  energy, 
life  itself,  in  competition  for  the  robbery  of  the 
people.  This  very  competition  makes  them 
hard,  heartless  to  one  another.  They  should,  in 
very  defence  of  themselves,  be  forbidden  this 
fatal  competition,  destroying  their  souls  and  their 
bodies  together." 

The  man  caught  in  his  breath.  He  raised  his 
two  hands,  came  up  and  threw  both  out  to  her 
heartily.  She  did  not  misunderstand.  She  grasped 
his  two  hands  as  earnestly  as  he  extended  them. 
The  world  is  round,  and  he  came  into  her  life  as  a 
stately  ship  enters  a  harbor  after  circling  the 
earth. 

Who  was  he  ?  It  hardly  matters.  The  future 
26 


"Feed  My  Sheep" 

of  our  story  and  of  this  man  is  not  behind  us. 
Enough  to  say  that  he  had  been  born  near  the 
banks  of  a  great  river  in  the  far-away  new  world, 
nearly  half  a  century  before.  And  this  meant 
that  he  had  met  and  walked  with  poverty  and 
peril  in  the  wilderness. 

Faint  and  dubious  was  the  light  that  fell  across 
the  path  of  anyone  born  of  his  period  and  station 
there.  Gentleness  was  not  encouraged.  Man 
grappled  with  man  and  contended  from  the  time 
when  he  left  the  cradle  till  he  reached  the  grave. 
Cabin  homes  under  the  beech  and  maple  trees, 
that  ought  to  have  been  Edens,  were  often  homes 
of  enmity,  bitterness,  and  continual  unhappiness. 
Neighbor  was  often  arrayed  against  neighbor. 
Bitter  family  fueds  grew  out  of  the  most  trivial 
matters,  and  the  nearest  neighbors  were  often 
the  bitterest  enemies.  True,  they  would  meet 
now  and  then  at  the  little  church,  but  would 
scarcely  speak  one  to  another.  They  would 
meet  sometimes  in  the  graveyard,  drop  tears  in 
the  grave  together,  as  they  covered  up  their  dead, 
and  then  go  away.  Let  the  truth  be  told.  Let 
romance  picture  no  road  of  roses  here.  All  men 
were  unhappy,  miserably  unhappy  here.  Their 
27 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

feuds  often  ended  in  battles  to  the  death,  as  in 
Kentucky  to  this  day. 

And  was  this  the  fault  of  the  good  God  ? 
Not  so.  Plenty  there  was,  abundance  after  its 
kind,  for  all.  Wild  game,  wild  fruits,  wild  nuts, 
and  in  abundance,  and  to  be  had  for  the  taking ! 
and  yet  man  oftentimes  went  hunting  for  man 
as  for  a  wild  beast.  This  wretched  hatred  of 
man  toward  man,  this  continual  unhappiness, 
was  so  conspicuous  on  every  hand  that  this  man, 
even  in  his  childhood,  had  noted  it. 

When  travel  came  with  time,  and  carried  him 
far  and  wide  and  up  from  the  cabin  door  to  the 
castle  hall,  all  the  way,  and  at  all  times,  and 
under  all  circumstances  and  all  conditions,  he 
found  his  fellow-men  continually  unhappy.  The 
king  on  his  throne  he  found  as  full  of  rivalry  and 
contention  as  the  pioneer  in  his  cabin. 

And  he  found  that  all  history,  sacred  and  pro 
fane,  rose  up  and  testified,  from  King  David 
down,  that  u  All  is  vanity  and  vexation  of 
spirit." 

And  he  read  that  one  mighty  in  power  and  opu 
lence  had  cut  upon  a  column  of  granite  in  the 
four  corners  of  his  kingdom,  ages  ago,  this  fear- 
28 


"Feed  My  Sheep" 

ful  confession :  "  Eat,  drink,  and  love.    The  rest 
is  not  worth  a  fillip." 

Traveling  in  Persia,  our  searcher  for  happy 
people  had  picked  up  a  tradition  which  read  thus: 
"  Send  forth,  O  King !  search  and  find  a  happy 
man.  Take  that  man's  shirt  and  wear  it,  and 
thou,  too,  shalt  be  happy." 

And  the  king  sent  forth  men, and  they  searched, 
and  they  searched  throughout  the  four  corners  of 
his  kingdom.  And  in  the  third  year,  as  they  came 
down  a  pleasant  mountain  pass  where  water 
flowed  by  the  mouth  of  a  cave  half  hidden  in 
laden  vines,  they  saw  a  man  playing  joyously  on 
his  pipe. 

"  You  seem  happy  !  " 

"  Happy  !  I  am  happy.  The  sun  is  warm, 
the  grapes  are  sweet,  and  God  is  good.  Oh,  yes, 
I  am  very,  very  happy." 

u  Then  come,  come  with  us.  Your  fortune  is 
made,  our  fortunes  are  made  !  Come,  rise  up 
and  go  with  us." 

"  And  where  shall  I  go,  my  good  masters  ?  " 

"  Why,  go  with  us  to  the  palace  of  the  king, 
and  the  king  will  give  you  the  fortune  of  a 
prince." 

29 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

"  And  what  shall  I  give  the  king  in  return  for 
all  this,  my  good  masters  ?  " 

"  Nothing,  nothing  at  all  except  the  shirt  you 
wear." 

"  Ah,  my  good  masters,  I  was  never  bothered 
with  a  shirt." 

So  saying,  he  threw  aside  the  sheepskin  that 
hung  about  his  shoulders,  and  dropping  his  lips 
to  his  pipe,  played  pleasantly  as  the  weary  men 
on  their  weary  camels  rode  wearily  on  in  this 
hopeless  search. 

Yes,  here  was  a  happy  man,  but  of  what  man 
ner  ?  He  was  not  a  man  in  the  true  sense  of  the 
word.  He  was  more  nearly  a  domestic  and  kindly 
beast.  His  negative  happiness  was  surely  not  the 
sort  of  happiness  to  which  man  made  in  the 
image  of  God  was  destined. 

Should  a  bestial  king  perpetuate  to  all  posterity 
the  outrageous  declaration  on  his  columns  of 
granite  and  brass  that  there  is  nothing  better  in 
life  than  to  "  eat,  drink,  and  be  merry  "  ? 

Even  were  there  a  grain  of  truth  in  his  folly, 

any  man  with  a  heart  in  him  would  be  made 

miserable  all  the  time  when  sober  enough  to  reflect 

how  many,  or  rather  how  few,  how  very,  very  few 

30 


"Feed  My  Sheep9' 

could,  under  such  a  condition  of  things,  be  al 
lowed  to  "  eat,  drink,  and  love." 

What  wonder,  then,  that  this  stranger  threw 
out  his  two  hands  to  this  brave  and  beautiful 
woman  who  stood  there  on  the  ruins  of  Solomon's 
Temple,  lamenting  the  enmities  and  hates  and 
common  misery  of  the  human  race ! 


///. — "TAe  Time  is  Fulfilled,  and  the 
Kingdom  of  God  is  at  Hand" 

UNDER  THE  SYRIAN  STARS. 

DEAR  Bethlehem,  the  proud  repose 

Of  conscious  worthiness  is  thine. 
Rest  on.      The  Arab  comes  and  goes, 

But  farthest  Saxon  holds  thy  shrine 
More  sacred  in  his  stouter  Christian  hold 
Than  England's  heaped-up  iron  house  of  gold. 

Thy  stony  hill  is  heaven's  stair  5 

Thine  every  stone  some  storied  gem. 

Oh,  thou  art  fair  and  very  fair, 
Thou  holy,  holy  Bethlehem  ! 

Thy  very  dust  more  dear  than  dust  of  gold 

Against  my  glorious  sunset  waters  rolled. 

And  here  did  glean  the  lowly  Ruth  ; 

Here  strode  her  grandson,  fierce  and  fair, 
Strode  forth  in  all  his  kingly  youth 

And  tore  the  ravening  she-bear. 
Here  Rachel  sleeps.      Here  David,  thirsting,  cried 
For  just  one  drop  from  yonder  trickling  tide. 

ONE   night   this    man   and   woman   walked 
together  in   the   Garden   of  Gethsemane 
under  the  Syrian  stars,  and  she  said,  in  the  same 
sad,  far-away  voice  : 

11  That  strong  man  who  carried  the  dove  should 
have  carried  the  old  woman's  wood.     She  should 
3* 


"The  Time  is  Fulfilled" 

have  remained  at  home,  or,  if  she  desired,  should 
have  been  carried  in  a  cart,  sitting  on  her  burthen 
and  resting  from  the  gathering  of  it,  looking  about 
her  at  the  flowers  and  the  birds,  or  above  her  at 
these  wondrously  beautiful  blue  skies  of  Syria." 

"  That  is  a  great  truth,"  he  cried ;  "  and  I 
would  joy  in  being  a  missionary  in  the  cause  of 
that  truth ;  but  what  are  we  to  do  when  every 
man,  from  the  throne  down,  must  have  his  own 
selfish  way,  except  when  forced  to  submit  ? " 

He  leaned  his  head  to  hear  what  she  might  say. 
Possibly  her  thought  was  in  line  with  his  own  plan 
for  the  redemption  of  man  from  man.  As  they 
passed  on  under  an  ancient  olive-tree  she  began 
slowly  : 

"  Let  us  be  very  practical.  The  salvation  of 
the  world  now  depends  on  a  little  hard,  sound 
sense  only.  It  has  been  going  around  and  around 
and  around,  like  a  little  whirling,  merry-go-round 
with  helpless  and  heedless  children,  till  its  head 
has  grown  dizzy.  We  have  costly  churches  here 
and  costly  cathedrals  there,  of  every  nation  and 
of  every  name ;  enough  to  buy  horses,  ploughs, 
carriages, — all  things  needed  for  all  who  need 
them.  We  claim  to  build  those  temples  for  the 

3  33 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

people  ;  yet  the  people  are  broken  in  body  and  in 
spirit.  Some  of  them  will  sleep  in  the  streets 
and  alleys  to-night,  while  every  church  and  tem 
ple  stands  empty  and  bolted  against  God's  poor. 
The  rich  must  have  a  place  where  they  can  come 
and  find  God  now  and  then  ;  and  so  God's  houses 
are  bolted  and  barred,  while  God's  poor  sleep  in 
the  rain  and  frost  before  the  bolted  doors." 

The  man  looked  away  from  the  Mount  of 
Olives.  He  began  to  wonder  whether  the  great, 
big  world,  after  its  cruel  fashion,  would  be  pleased 
to  brand  this  woman  as  a  nihilist,  or  a  communist. 
Finally  he  said  : 

"  Surely  we  are  in  the  wilderness  ;  but  is  there 
any  way  out  ?  " 

"There  is  a  column  of  cloud  by  day  and  a 
pillar  of  fire  by  night.  Look  back,  back  even 
beyond  Exodus,  back  to  the  first  cry  and  con 
fession  of  sin  from  man  to  his  Maker.  '  The 
woman  tempted  me  and  I  did  eat/  And  she — 
the  serpent  tempted  her.  And  behold !  when  your 
Christ  prayed  he  prayed  this  one  prayer,  after  the 
prayer  for  bread  and  for  forgiveness  :  '  Lead  us 
not  into  temptation  '  !  " 

"  I  see,  I  see,"  he  said ;  "  it  is  plain  indeed. 
34 


"TAe  Time  is  Fulfilled" 

You  would  not  have  the  man  tempted  to  crowd 
past  the  old  woman  with  the  load  on  her  back  in 
his  haste  to  be  first  at  the  market.  You  would 
not  let  the  poor,  bent  body  be  tempted  to  give 
the  price  of  her  load  to  sustain  her  broken  body. 
You  would  not  open  the  houses  of  dissipation  to 
the  poor  at  night,  and  at  the  same  time  lock  the 
doors  of  God's  house." 

The  woman's  face  took  on  a  new  and  glorious 
light. 

"  Man  is  good,"  she  began ;  "  man  is  almost 
entirely  good.  Yet  if  he  was  tempted  to  be  bad 
in  Eden  where  all  was  so  perfect  and  lovely,  how 
shall  we  dare  hope  he  will  not  fall  in  the  terrible 
trials  with  which  he  is  so  continually  beset 
to-day  ?  " 

"  There  seems  to  me  but  one  thing  to  do : 
Pray  the  prayer  and  live  the  prayer  of  Jesus 
Christ,  l  Lead  us  not  into  temptation,'  "  said  the 
man  earnestly,  with  bowed  head. 

"  Ay,  then,"  said  the  woman  at  his  side,  "  then 
we  shall  see  the  cloud  of  smoke  by  day,  after  we 
have  followed  the  pillar  of  fire  in  the  darkness  ; 
and  we  can  then  read,  and  can  then  comprehend 
these  other  words  of  Jesus  Christ :  '  The  time  is 
35 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

fulfilled,  and  the  kingdom  of  God  is  at  hand.' ' 
"  Yes,  yes,"  he  murmured  to  himself;  and  yet 
he  feared  that  all  this  would  melt  and  fade  away, 
as  had  melted  and  faded  out  of  sight  so  many 
theories  and  pretty  sermons  to  which  he  had 
listened  for  years.  It  all  seemed  too  bright  and 
beautiful  to  be  true.  But  that  plan  of  hers  to 
buy  a  cart  for  the  old  woman  to  ride  in,  on  her 
load  of  wood,  was  not  the  plan  of  a  theorist.  Let 
many  churches  be  sold,  since  they  are  so  rarely 
in  use,  and  then  many  old  women  with  bent  backs 
could  have  carts  to  ride  in.  Carry  the  idea  on 
and  on  and  on ;  and  then  no  one  could  jostle 
any  one  at  all.  The  temptation  to  jostle  an  old 
woman  with  a  load  of  wood  on  her  back  would 
be  removed. 

u  Let  this  idea  enter  all  departments  of  life. 
Let  it  be  possible  for  all  to  ride.  Let  every  man 
be  a  king,  and  there  will  be  no  contention  for 
thrones,"  urged  the  woman,  earnestly,  as  she  saw 
that  her  listener  was  intensely  interested.  u  Lis 
ten  to  me.  God  is  the  great  emancipator  of  man ; 
not  Lincoln,  not  the  Czar.  God  has  written  the 
emancipation  proclamation  of  man  in  lightning 
on  the  walls  of  heaven.  A  message  that  con- 
36 


"TAe  Time  is  Fulfilled" 

sumed  half  a  year  a  little  time  ago  is  now  deliv 
ered  in  an  hour.  A  single  hand  on  an  engine  will 
give  out  in  a  day  garments  that  cost  a  thousand 
hands  a  year  to  fashion  half  a  century  back. 
And  so  with  bread,  with  houses,  with  all  things. 
God  has  emancipated  man,  I  say,  but  man  still 
enthralls  man." 

They  had  slowly  descended, and  walked  toward 
the  city.  It  is  all  plain,  this  which  we  offer  you 
here.  The  way  by  which  we  set  out  to  lead  up 
out  of  Egypt  may  appear  to  you  a  desert  course  ; 
it  may  seem  tortuous,  may  look  to  you  like  the 
contortions  of  a  serpent,  of  the  brazen  serpent 
for  the  fainting  people  to  look  upon  ;  but  bear  in 
mind  we,  the  human  race,  are  in  the  wilderness. 
Faith  must  be  put  to  the  test,  and  it  may  be  forty 
years  before  we  look  down  into  the  promised  land. 
It  may  be  that  none  of  us  shall  live  to  enter 
there.  But  that  makes  the  exodus  none  the  less 
a  religious  duty.  You  and  you  and  you  may  turn 
back  to  the  flesh-pots  of  Egypt ;  the  writer  may 
perish  in  the  wilderness  and  no  man  know  his 
burial-place  ;  but  that  shall  make  the  truth  none 
the  less  truth  as  the  centuries  roll  forward. 

37 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

As  they  stood  in  the  serene  starlight  before  the 
low  white  door  of  the  little  hotel,  the  woman 
reached  the  man  her  hand  to  say  good-by  and  let 
him  go  his  way  j  then  she  said  slowly  : 

"  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand  when 
temptation  is  not  at  hand.  And  this  is  the  whole 
story,  as  briefly  as  it  can  be  stated.  In  this 
search  for  the  highway  of  happiness  for  man  I 
did  not  at  once  decide  that  all  men  are  good  at 
heart,"  she  said.  "  In  the  course  of  my  hard  life 
I  have  found  so  many  sad  exceptions  to  this  gen 
eral  rule  that  it  seemed  impossible  to  accept  it. 
But  that  one  piteous  little  sentence  which  is  indeed 
the  substance  of  the  prayer  of  Jesus  Christ, — 
'  Lead  us  not  into  temptation,' — seemed  so  full 
of  confession  that  the  conviction  gradually  fast 
ened  itself  upon  me  that  all  men  are  at  least  try 
ing  to  be  good.  If  the  prayer  had  read,  4  Make 
us  strong  against  temptation  ' ;  if  the  prayer  had 
said,  '  Be  with  us  in  the  hour  of  temptation  ' — 
but  the  confession,  'Lead  us  not  into  temptation, 
or  we  shall  surely  fall,'  includes  all  men  and  all 
that  is  in  man.  A  penny  may  be  a  temptation 
to  one,  a  kingdom  to  another ;  and  so  c  Lead  us 
not  into  temptation.'  Stop  and  consider  a  moment 
38 


"The  Time  is  Fulfilled" 

how  unequal  are  all  men  and  how  unequal  are 
our  human  laws.  Some  of  us  are  strong,  so 
strong  that  ordinary  things  are  not  temptation  ; 
but  a  poor  wretch  bearing  a  load  of  sticks  on  her 
back  comes  by,  is  weary,  tempted  to  drink,  and 
falls.  And  we  who  are  above  the  little  thing  that 
tempted  her  turn  and  take  God's  sunlight  out  of 
her  eyes  for  days  together.  Better  take  tempta 
tion  out  of  her  way  ;  for  God  made  her,  and  she 
is  good,  whatever  man  may  make  her.  Whoever 
she  may  be,  she  is  God's,  and  she  is  sacred, 
wherever  she  may  be." 

Pausing  a  time,  she  lifted  her  face  and  said 
earnestly  :  "  Read  attentively  the  very  first  chap 
ter  of  the  Bible, — 'and  God  saw  that  it  was  good/ 
Time  after  time  is  this  repeated  :  c  And  God  saw 
that  it  was  good.'  '  And  God  saw  everything  that 
he  had  made,  and,  behold,  it  was  very  good.'  And 
yet  man  dares  say  by  word  and  deed  continually 
that  it  is  not  good.  Why,  even  the  wild  beasts 
are  good.  The  fiercest  lion  of  the  desert  is 
bravely  good." 

For  an  instant,  as  she  ceased  to  speak,  her 
lifted  face  had  all  the  awful  splendor  of  a  lioness 
aroused. 

39 


'The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

She  suddenly  again  gave  him  her  hand  and 
went  hastily  in  at  the  low,  white  door.  He  stood 
alone,  looking  after  her  for  a  long  time,  and  then 
went  his  way,  a  truer  man  and  a  better  man  by 
a  great  deal  than  he  had  ever  been  before. 

The  stars  were  shining  through  his  inmost  soul; 
for  he  loved  her  so.  Loved  her!  He  deified  her. 
Beautiful  as  was  her  face  and  form,  her  beauty 
of  soul,  her  unselfish  sincerity  and  devotion  to  the 
cause  of  humanity  made  her  his  angel,  his  ideal. 

He  had  hated,  or  at  least  feared  and  avoided 
women  up  to  the  time  when  he  met  her.  Now 
a  woman  was  his  whole  world.  She  was  his 
earth  and  his  heaven. 


IV. — The  Growing  of  a  Soul 

HIAR  ye  this  parable.  A  man 

Did  plant  a  garden.  Vine  and  tree 

Alike,  in  course  of  time,  began 
To  put  forth  fair  and  pleasantly. 

The  rains  of  heaven,  the  persuading  sun 

Came  down  alike  on  each  and  every  one. 

Yet  some  trees  wilful  grew,  and  some 
Strong  vines  grew  gayly  in  the  sun, 

With  gaudy  leaves  that  ever  come 

To  naught.      And  yet,  each  flaunting  one 

Did  flourish  on  triumphantly  and  glow 

Like  sunset  clouds  in  all  their  moving  show. 

But  lo  !   the  harvest  found  them  not. 

The  soul  had  perished  from  them.      Mould 
And  muck  and  leaf  lay  there  to  rot, 

And  furnish  nourishment  untold 
To  patient  tree  and  lowly  creeping  vine 
That  grew  as  grew  the  Husbandman's  design. 

Hear  then  this  lesson  ;  hear  and  heed. 

I  say  that  chaff  shall  perish  ;  say 
Man's  soul  is  like  unto  a  seed 

To  grow  unto  the  Judgment  Day. 
It  grows  and  grows  if  he  will  have  it  grow  ; 
It  perishes  if  he  must  have  it  so. 

THIS   man   had    seen   the   world, — all   the 
civilized  world,  and  more  of  the  savage 
world  also  than  many.     For  years  he  had  traveled 

41 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

continually,  traveled  in  a  quiet  way,  keeping  al 
ways  among  the  poor  and  toiling.  He  wrote, 
taught,  toiled  with  his  hands,  turned  his  hand  to 
what  he  could,  but  all  the  time  remained  with 
his  peers,  the  poor ;  not  the  low,  mind  you.  Now 
and  then  he  happened  to  write  something  that 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  thinkers  ;  and  then 
some  strong  hands  would  reach  out  and  lift  him 
up  into  the  great  white  light  that  beats  upon 
thrones.  But  he  was  glad  always  to  get  down 
and  out  of  it  all,  to  get  back  to  his  peers,  the 
poor ;  for  there  was  work  to  do. 

It  had  begun  to  appear  to  him  as  hardly  fair 
that  the  man  who  laid  the  brick  and  mortar  and 
made  the  great  sewers  through  the  mud  and 
malaria  of  Paris  and  London  and  such  like  cities 
should  not  be  able  to  eat  meat  more  than  twice 
each  week  without  robbing  his  children,  while  the 
man  who  did  no  work  at  all,  but  walked  about 
with  his  face  held  high  in  the  sweet  air,  should 
have  meat  and  wine  twice  each  day ;  ay,  many 
kinds  of  meat  and  wine  if  he  so  desired. 

He  said  one  day  to  one  of  these  men  down 
there  in  a  deep  sewer,  as  he  leaned  over  and  bade 
him  look  up  :  "  Why  do  not  you  men  unite  and 


The  Growing  of  a  Soul 

build  a  city  of  your  own  ?  Go  to  America,  go 
away  out  in  the  unsettled  deserts  of  Arizona  or 
Mexico,  find  a  warm,  beautiful  spot,  plant  vines, 
build  a  city,  and  have  peace  and  plenty  all  your 
own." 

The  man  shook  his  head  slowly,  and  finally 
said :  "  No  ;  we  built  Paris  and  we  are  going  to 
burn  Paris,  and  then  have  peace  and  plenty 
here." 

This  was  a  few  months  before  the  Commune. 

Now  the  burning  of  Paris  was  not  so  much, 
— not  so  much  in  comparison  with  the  deep  and 
terrible  hate  in  the  heart  of  that  man.  Man  can 
easily  make  a  city,  but  it  takes  God  to  make  a 
man.  And  it  takes  even  God  generations  upon 
generations,  under  His  own  laws,  to  build  up  a 
single  manly,  sweet-souled  human  man  out  of 
such  hardened  and  bitter  material  as  that. 

Here  is  what  the  woman  whom  he  met  in 
Jerusalem  wrote  to  him,  soon  after  they  first  met 
as  described,  on  the  subject  of  city  building : 

u  The  flow  of  population  is  steadily  to  the  great 
centers  of  the  earth.  This  cannot  be  stopped  or 
stayed.  The  people  are  pouring  into  the  cities. 
The  only  thing  to  be  done  is  to  make  the  cities 

43 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

fit  for  their  reception.  There  is  not  to-day  one 
farm-house  in  all  Russia  or  France.  A  new  order 
of  things  has  come  upon  cities  and  villages,  and 
the  man  who  loves  his  fellow-men  must  now 
meet  this  new  order  of  things  like  a  practical  man. 

"  The  man  who  lives  for  himself  only  lives 
for  a  very  small  man. 

41  Man  should  lay  the  foundation  stones  of  his 
city  where  God  has  laid  them.  Why  will  he  not 
choose  the  beautiful  mountain  slopes  of  America, 
instead  of  the  marshes  of  Liverpool,  the  mud  of 
London,  or  the  malaria-reeking  ruins  of  Rome  ? 
Is  it  because  he  has  not  hope,  heart  unity, 
strength  ? 

"Well,  then,  since  these  workers,  these  world- 
builders,  have  not  these  qualities,  let  those  who 
love  the  world  go  forth,  find  sunny  slopes  and 
natural  hills  of  health,  and  there,  with  God  to 
help  them,  lay  the  corner-stones  of  the  new 
cities  under  this  new  order  of  things,  for  these 
new  people  who  so  persistently  and  so  helplessly 
pour  into  the  cities. 

"  Man  must  be  saved  from  man.  Jesus  Christ 
lived  and  died  to  save  man ;  to  save  man  from  man, 
not  man  from  God ;  to  save  man  from  himself 
44 


The  Growing  of  a  Soul 

by  His  example  of  patient  pity  and  forgiveness 
and  the  precepts  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount. 

"  Is  man  an  antediluvian  monster,  that  he 
shall  for  all  time  wallow  in  the  mud  and  mire  of 
some  old  seaport  ?  Is  man  a  beast,  that  he 
should  be  led  along  forever  with  blinds  before 
his  eyes  for  fear  that  he  may  see  the  light  and 
run  away  ? 

"  Let  us  go  forth  and  build  a  city  where  there 
are  roomy,  sunlit,  untrod  mountain-sides ;  build 
it  on  the  beautiful  foundation  stones  that  God 
has  laid  with  his  own  hand ;  and  let  us  lay  the 
moral  and  social  foundations  on  the  sacred  and 
immortal  precepts  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount ; 
build  in  Faith  and  Hope  and  Charity,  and  leave 
the  rest  to  Time,  to  God's  first-born. 

u  No,  you  should  not  compel  men  to  believe 
that  Christ  died  to  save  man  from  God.  Let 
all  believe  as  God  has  given  us  to  believe,  as  to 
whether  Christ  died  to  save  man  from  man  or  to 
save  man  from  God.  Nor  should  you  insist 
that  Christ  is  the  only  begotten  Son  of  God. 
This  has  been  argued  by  sword  and  pen,  till  every 
venerable  city  that  was  ever  founded  has  been 
drenched  in  blood  and  tears.  Only  let  each  man 
45 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

try  to  believe  in  man  and  obey  the  precepts  of 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount. 

u  The  good  God  made  us  all  very  beautiful 
in  soul  and  body  to  begin  with ;  and  very,  very 
happy  too ;  therefore  we  know  that  He  desires 
us  to  be  continually  happy  and  continually  beau 
tiful.  And  if  we  are  not  continually  happy  and 
continually  beautiful  is  it  the  fault  of  God  or 
the  fault  of  man  ? 

u  Indisputably  it  is  entirely  the  fault  of  man. 
Let  us  then  see  that  man  be  made  less  miserable. 
Let  us  look  less  dogmatically  after  God,  who 
can  well  afford  to  pity  us  for  our  wrongs  to  His 
beautiful  image.  And  now  let  us  go  forth  with 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  in  hand  and  build  the 
City  Beautiful ;  and  as  we  go  forth  on  this  mis 
sion,  as  good  men  go  to  far  countries  and  lay 
down  their  lives  in  dark  lands,  let  us  ponder  on 
His  words  for  the  poor  and  oppressed  :  '  Peter, 
feed  my  sheep.' ' 

These  few  quotations  will  show  you  more  of 
the  soul  and  character  and  lofty  purpose  of  this 
woman  than  would  a  dozen  chapters  of  ours. 

It  would  be  idle  to  record  his  replies  to  these 
sincere  appeals  for  man.  Like  a  strong  swim- 
46 


The  Growing  of  a  Soul 

mer,  borne  forward  by  a  mountain  torrent,  he 
was  entirely  at  her  will.  He  asked  nothing 
more,  nothing  better  or  higher, — only  to  help 
her  help  man  ;  that  was  all  in  all  to  him. 

How  he  worshiped  her !  And  yet  she  ever 
seemed  so  far  away.  Once  he  dared  to  take  her 
hand.  She  did  not  reprove  him  ;  she  did  not 
withdraw  it,  but  he  felt  no  response,  such  as  he 
hoped  as  some  reward  for  his  daring.  What 
did  her  passive  serenity  mean  ? 


47 


V. — How  Beautiful ! 

"How  BEAUTIFUL  are  the  feet  of  them  that  preach 
the  gospel  of  peace,  and  bring  glad  tidings  of  good  things !  " 

0  star-built  bridge,  broad  milky  way  ! 
O  star-lit,  stately,  splendid  span  ! 

If  but  one  star  should  cease  to  stay 

And  prop  its  shoulders  to  God's  plan — 
The  man  who  lives  for  self,  I  say, 
He  lives  for  neither  God  nor  man. 

1  count  the  columned  waves  at  war 

With  Titan  elements  5  and  they, 
In  martial  splendor,  storm  the  bar 

And  shake  the  world,  these  bits  of  spray. 
Each  gives  to  each,  and  like  the  star 
Gets  back  its  gift  in  tenfold  pay. 

To  get  and  give  and  give  amain 

The  rivers  run  and  oceans  roll. 
O  generous  and  high-born  rain 

When  reigning  as  a  splendid  whole  ! 
That  man  who  lives  for  self  alone 
Lives  for  the  meanest  mortal  known. 


WE  HAVE  spoken  of  Miriam  as  a  silent 
woman,  for   she    really   seemed    silent 
at  all  times.     She  was,  in  fact,  spoken  of  by 
all   who    knew   her    in    London    as   the    silent 
woman.      And   yet    it   will    be   seen    that    she 
said  much.      It  may  be  that  it  is  the  man  or 
48 


How  Beautiful ! 

woman  who  says  nothing  who  is  a  great  talker. 

Socrates  was  a  strangely  silent  man  in  his 
younger  days,  so  far  as  we  can  find  out ;  and  yet 
he  really  said  more  than  all  the  men  and  women 
of  his  century. 

Jesus  Christ  was  sad  and  silent  at  all  times ; 
and  yet  the  things  he  said  and  suggested  fill  more 
books  and  find  place  in  the  hearts  of  more  good 
people  than  the  sayings  of  all  the  great  men  of 
earth  put  together. 

Beauty,  beauty  of  body  and  soul,  was  her  idol. 
She  kept  the  following  lines  from  the  Bible  con 
stantly  before  her : 

"  Thou  art  beautiful,  O  my  love,  as  Tirzah, 
comely  as  Jerusalem,  terrible  as  an  army  with 
banners." 

And  here  is  another  line  she  loved  to  repeat : 

"He  hath  made  every  thing  beautiful  in  his 
time." 

Here  follow  some  extracts  from  an  epistle 
to  Sir  Moses  Montefiore  on  his  hundredth 
birthday : 

"  All  things  are  beautiful.  All  animate  life  is  won- 
drously  beautiful.  You  are  beautiful  j  you  were  born 
beautiful, — beautiful  in  body  as  in  soulj  beautiful  with 

4  49 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

the  divine  beauty  and  image  of  the  Eternal.  If  this 
beauty  of  man  shall  be  marred  or  scarred  it  will  be  the 
fault  of  man,  not  of  his  Maker.  Time  shall  not  touch 
nor  tarnish  man's  beauty  ;  man,  only,  can  lay  hand  upon 
it.  Man  alone  may  make  this  beauty  of  body  and  of 
soul  less  perfectly  beautiful  than  God  made  it. 

"It  is  a  crime  to  make  this  beauty  less  beautiful.  It 
is  a  duty  to  make  this  beauty  daily  more  beautiful, — 
man's  duty  to  himself,  man's  duty  to  his  Maker,  man's 
duty  to  man.  It  is  man's  duty  to  make  his  youth  sweetly 
beautiful;  it  is  man's  duty  to  make  his  meridian  of  life 
magnificently  beautiful;  it  is  man's  sacred  duty  to  make 
his  declining  years,  like  your  own,  so  serenely  beautiful 
that  man  shall  be  in  love  with  old  age, — to  be  so  tran 
quil,  so  perfectly  at  peace,  so  beautiful  in  body  and  in 
soul — a  stately  tree,  Elijah's  chariot  of  fire  in  the  golden 
autumn — that  men  shall  see  a  halo  of  light  above  the 
good,  gray  head  as  it  goes  down  in  the  twilight  to  the 
River  of  Rest. 

"<Ah,  no,  impossible!'  sighs  one;  <I  cannot  grow 
more  beautiful  daily,  for  I  am  daily  trodden  into  the  dust. 
I  cannot  even  retain  the  beauty  of  body  and  of  soul  which 
God  gave  me  to  begin  with.' 

"  I  answer,  look  about  you  at  the  down-trodden  grass. 
Resurgam  !  Resurgam  !  Look  above  you  at  the  busy 
clouds,  the  battling  elements.  There  is  not  so  very  much 
rest  anywhere,  but  there  is  beauty  everywhere.  Ay,  I 
look  down  to  the  grass  under  my  feet.  The  grass  is  daily 
trodden  down,  and  yet  it  daily,  hourly,  tries  to  rise  up, 

5° 


How  Beautiful ! 

to  grow  and  grow  and  be  more  beautiful  even  with  its 
face  in  the  dust.  And  when  the  storm  comes  it  washes 
its  face  in  the  rain  and  rises  up  and  again  goes  forward  in 
its  patient  effort  to  make  its  one  little  place  in  man's  path 
way  still  more  beautiful. 

"Yes,  it  is  to  be  conceded  that  there  is  not  much  rest 
for  any  one  of  us  or  for  anything.  All  things  toil.  The 
oceans  are  busy  building  their  sea-banks  of  shell  and 
shale  and  snow-white  sand  and  pretty,  rounded  pebbles. 
The  flowers  toil,  the  trees  toil  and  toil  and  are  often 
broken  in  mighty  battles  with  the  elements.  All  things 
toil  and  toil  continually  to  make  this  beautiful  world  still 
more  beautiful.  And  God  himself,  so  far  as  we  can  find 
out,  is  the  hardest  toiler  of  all. 

"The  thing  to  do  is  to  toil  harmoniously.  Put  the 
working  world  in  harmony,  and  then  work  is  rest.  It  is 
for  this  purpose,  the  purpose  of  possibly  helping  along 
in  the  line  of  harmony,  that  these  thoughts,  set  down 
in  the  intervals  of  travel  and  toil  of  supervising,  here 
in  Palestine,  the  ploughing  and  planting,  sowing  grain 
or  gathering  fruit — it  is  in  the  hope  of  harmonizing 
and,  maybe,  the  lighting  of  a  lamp  in  one  or  two  of 
the  darker  passes  of  life,  as  the  peasants  of  Russia  light 
lamps  before  the  image  of  the  Virgin  in  the  dangerous 
passes  of  mountains,  that  I  continually  invoke  the  adora 
tion  of  beauty. 

"Meantime  there  is  good  reason  for  hope;  for  the 
world  grows  better,  brighter,  and  more  beautiful,  vastly 
more  beautiful  year  by  year.  So  beautiful,  indeed,  has 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

the  world  become  that  it  almost  seems  that  if  man  could 
only  harmonize  his  forces,  harmonize  himself,  with  his 
surroundings,  harmonize  himself  with  himself,  he  could 
reach  forth  and  say  truly :  '  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
at  hand.' 

"  But,  alas  !  we  are  a  lot  of  garrulous  children  in  a  great, 
big  boat  in  a  great,  big  bay ;  and  some  row  east  and  some 
row  west,  and  some  will  not  row  at  all,  but  live  and 
thrive  on  the  fears  and  misery  and  the  despair  of  the 
weaker  ones." 


VI. — The  Sermon  on  the  Mount 

I  THINK  the  birds  in  that  far  dawn 

Were  still.      The  bustling  town  below 
Lay  listening.      Its  strength  was  drawn 
To  him,  as  tides  that  inward  flow. 

All  Galilee  lay  still.      Far  fields  of  corn 
Lay  still  to  hear  that  silent,  sacred  morn. 

Be  comforted  ;  and  blessed  be 

The  meek,  the  merciful,  the  pure 
Of  heart  ;  for  they  shall  see,  shall  hear 
God's  mercy.      So  shall  peace  endure 

With  God's  peacemakers.     They  are  His,  and  they 
Shall  be  His  children  in  the  Judgment  Day. 

THE  great   philanthropist   had  returned   to 
London,  leaving  our  two  younger  philan 
thropists  and  city-builders  together  in  Jerusalem. 
These  two  persons  were  together  now  almost 
entirely.     They  were  absolute  masters  of  their 
own  time  and  work.     They  were  under  no  legal 
obligation  to  any  one.     But  what  of  that  broader 
and  far  more  binding  moral  obligation  to  man 
which  goes  with  every  gift  of  mental  strength  ? 
Being  entirely  released  from  all  further  care  in 
Jerusalem,  because  the  colonies   in  and  round 
about    the    ancient    cities     had     been    trained, 
53 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

according  to  the  wish  of  their  founder,  to 
lean  on  themselves,  Miriam  now  began  to 
look  abroad. 

As  said  before,  she  was  far  from  satisfied  that 
the  best  thing  that  could  be  done  had  been  done 
here.  It  seemed  to  her  like  the  same  old  story  of 
going  around  and  around  and  around ;  and  she 
could  not  help  seeing  that  every  new  generation 
would  need  a  new  Savior  and  a  new  Sermon  on 
the  Mount.  The  same  old  enmities,  the  same 
old  sorrows,  and  the  same  old  sins. 

There  was  a  colony  of  Christians  down  by 
the  sea,  not  far  from  Joppa.  The  two  city-build 
ers  went  thither  to  see,  to  listen,  and,  if  possible, 
to  learn. 

They  found  that  these  colonists  had  come  to 
the  Holy  Land  to  pray  and  to  await  the  coming 
of  Christ.  Their  devout  lives,  their  humility  and 
continual  habit  of  prayer  appealed  to  the  man 
greatly.  But  as  for  the  woman,  she  had  no 
patience  with  them. 

"  They  should  have  gone  to  work  in  their  own 
land,  where  God  first  set  them  down  in  the  battle 
of  life,  and  Christ  would  have  been  with  them 
there  as  well  as  here,"  she  said. 
54 


The  Sermon  on  the  Mount 

"  Why,  how  selfish ! "  she  continued.  "  These 
few  came  here  to  await  the  second  coming  of 
Christ ;  as  if  they  would  be  first  to  get  into 
heaven." 

"  But  they  are  so  very  devout." 

"  Yes,  they  prayed  for  rain  all  day  and  nearly 
all  night  last  week,  I  am  told  ;  for  their  corn  was 
being  consumed  by  the  fervor  of  the  sun." 

"  And  was  not  that  a  fine  example  of  faith  ?  " 

"  It  was  a  fine  example  of  folly,  like  all  such 
prayers,  and  an  exhibition  of  supreme  selfishness. 
Why,  they  appealed  to  God  to  change  a  law  of 
nature.  They  cried  out  to  God  all  day  and  all 
night  to  send  rain,  and  ruin  all  the  figs  of  Smyrna, 
in  order  that  they  might  have  a  dozen  bags  of 
corn  !  They  simply  prayed  God  to  ruin  fifty 
thousand  people  in  order  that  fifty  might  have  a 
little  green  corn  to  eat !  Selfishness  like  that 
cannot  survive,  and  it  should  not." 

He  had  never  before  seen  her  out  of  patience 
so  entirely.  It  was  evident  that  her  plans  for  the 
salvation  of  the  world,  whatever  they  were,  lay 
in  line  with  the  laws  of  nature.  He  began  to 
learn  that  this  boundless  faith  of  hers  was  trav 
eling  hand  in  hand  with  reason.  For  while  he, 
55 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

for  his  part,  gave  this  colony  of  Christians  all 
possible  encouragement,  and  also  a  little  solid 
assistance  to  help  tide  them  through  the  trouble 
that  was  upon  them  because  of  the  failure  of 
corn,  she  gave  neither  consolation  nor  money. 
But  instead,  she  gave  the  leader  a  letter  to  the 
British  and  American  consuls,  and  directed  him 
how  to  proceed  to  get  his  people  home  at  her 
cost. 

Half  a  year  after  the  long  prayer  for  rain,  this 
colony,  a  sort  of  prayerful  Brook  Farm,  was 
added  to  the  list  of  similar  failures,  and  the  marsh 
grass  now  grows  where  the  really  devout  and 
moral  little  community  could  not  make  corn  to 
grow  with  all  their  prayers. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  this  object-lesson  in 
city-building  here  in  the  Holy  Land  was  a  sad 
discouragement  to  this  man.  Whatever  her 
plans  were,  he,  for  his  part,  had  planned  some 
thing  not  very  different  from  this.  Only,  he  had 
not  contemplated  the  turning  back  of  man  in  his 
journey  around  the  globe.  He  believed  rather 
that  all  men  should  remain  as  nearly  as  possible 
at  home,  and  begin  the  great  reform  in  their  own 
dooryard. 

56 


The  Sermon  on  the  Mount 

"  Neither  will  that  do,"  she  said  emphatically, 
as  they  sat  by  the  Virgin's  Fountain  at  Nazareth, 
whither  they  had  gone  as  winter  came  on,  and 
where  they  discussed  this  greatest  problem  of 
humanity. 

"  A  well  must  be  dug  in  the  desert,  and  a 
great  protecting  tree  be  planted  there.  Of 
course,  any  good  man  will  do  his  best ;  his 
hearthstone  will  be  a  holy  altar  on  which  he  will 
lay  his  toil  and  example  and  life,  and  good  chil 
dren  will  grow  from  his  good  deeds.  But  a 
Jacob  must  rise  up  to  dig  a  well  by  the  way, 
and  a  Moses  must  come  to  lead  up  and  out  from 
the  bondage  of  getting  and  getting  and  getting. 
There  must  be  some  great  central  beginning ; 
and  it  must  be  removed,  it  must  be  remote  from 
all  these  cruel  and  hard  traditions  of  trade  till, 
like  a  child,  it  has  at  least  learned  to  stand  alone. 
For,  although  the  new-born  city  might  be  a  Her 
cules  at  its  birth,  there  would  come,  not  only 
two  serpents,  but  twenty  serpents,  to  strangle  it 
in  its  cradle." 

This,  the  foregoing,  is  what  she  said  one  twi 
light  as  they  sat  on  the  now  grass-grown  escarp 
ment  of  the  hill  above  the  holy  little  city,  and  in 
57 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

answer  to  his  hint  that  they  should  build  the  City 
Beautiful  there  where  they  would  have  slain  the 
Christ.  And  she  said  it  so  severely  !  She  was 
almost  cruel  in  her  putting  aside  of  his  senti 
mental  plans.  Do  or  say  what  he  could  she 
seemed  to  grow  further  away  from  him  day  by 
day ;  and  his  earnest,  honest  heart  was  breaking 
for  just  one  word.  Was  he  so  entirely  of  earth, 
or  was  it  that  she  was  so  entirely  of  heaven,  that 
he  had  not  yet  dared  a  second  time  to  touch  her 
hand  ? 


VII. — In  the  Sweat  of  Thy  Face 

WHAT  sound  was  that  ?     A  pheasant's  whir  ? 

What  stroke  was  that  ?     Lean  low  thine  ear. 
Is  that  the  stroke  of  Carpenter, 

That  far,  faint  echo  that  we  hear  ? 
Is  that  the  sound  that  sometime  Bedouins  tell 
Of  hammer-stroke  as  from  His  hand  it  fell  ? 

It  is  the  stroke  of  Carpenter, 

Through  nineteen  hundred  years  and  more 

Still  sounding  down  the  hallowed  stir 
Of  patient  toil ;  as  when  He  wore 

The  leathern  dress, — the  echo  of  a  sound 

That  thrills  for  aye  the  toiling,  sensate  ground. 

Hear  Mary  weaving  ?     Listen  !   Hear 

The  thud  of  loom  at  weaving-time 
In  Nazareth.      I  wreathe  this  dear 

Tradition  with  my  lowly  rhyme. 
Believing  everywhere  that  she  may  hear 
The  sound  of  toil,  sweet  Mary  bends  an  ear. 

Yea,  this  the  toil  that  Jesus  knew  ; 

Yet  we  complain  if  we  must  bear. 
Are  we  more  dear  ?     Are  we  more  true  ? 

Give  us,  O  God,  and  do  not  spare  ! 
Give  us  to  bear  as  Christ  and  Mary  bore 
With  toil  by  leaf-girt  Nazareth  of  yore  ! 

THESE  rhymes  tell  in  a  crude  way  a  pretty 
tradition  of  toil.     It  is  the  dove  perhaps, 
the  wood-dove,  which  the  half-wild  sons  of  deso 
lation  and  the  desert  have  heard  j  for  Nazareth 
59 


"The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

is  still  the  city  of  woods.  The  very  name  meant 
woods.  Even  now,  as  in  the  time  of  Jesus 
Christ,  people  of  the  cities  are  saying : "  Can  any 
good  thing  come  out  of  the  woods — the  West?" 

To  recount  the  plans  of  these  two  city-build 
ers,  here  where  Christ  toiled,  taught  in  the  syn 
agogue,  and  was  dragged  to  the  hill-top  to  be 
hurled  down,  would  take  long  indeed.  Let  it  be 
enough  to  say  that  they  were  seeking  for  light. 
"  Light,  more  light  !  "  was  their  one  desire  and 
demand. 

"  Life  is  so  short !  "  she  said  one  day.  u  For 
my  part,  I  cannot  afford  to  make  a  failure  and 
die.  That  would  be  too  terrible  !  "  She  paused 
long,  and  then  with  lifted  face  and  clasped  hands 
she  said  earnestly:  "  But  to  make  a  success,  and 
then  die  at  once — ah,  that  would  be  joy, 
joy, joy  !  " 

At  such  times  as  this  she  seemed  to  him  to  be 
thousands  of  miles  from  his  side.  It  is  more  than 
possible  that  a  strong,  pure,  and  complete  woman 
may  concentrate  her  entire  soul  and  body  to  some 
high  and  holy  purpose  as  well  without  taking  either 
vow  or  veil  as  if  she  took  both  in  due  form  and 
solemnity. 

60 


In  the  Sweat  of  Thy  Face 

Leaving  Nazareth,  they  journeyed  on  down 
into  Egypt,  taking  the  same  way,  as  nearly  as 
possible,  as  that  by  which  Moses  had  come  when 
leading  his  people  toward  the  Holy  Land. 

One  single  incident  of  this  journey,  which 
might  well  fill  a  book,  must  be  recorded  ;  for  it 
not  only  indicates  something  of  her  courage  and 
strength  of  devotion  but  also  tells  something  of 
her  strange  belief  in  not  only  the  brotherhood  of 
man  but  of  all  animate  life. 

They  were  tented  for  the  night  in  the  desert 
to  the  south  of  Mount  Sinai  when  a  lion 
approached  almost  to  the  tent  door.  As  she 
calmly  put  her  terrified  servants  behind  her  and, 
without  a  word,  stepped  between  the  man  and 
the  crouching  beast,  she  looked  it  firmly  in  the 
face  and  said  : 

"  Why,  do  n't  you  know  me  ?  I  remember 
you,  my  brother,  after  all  these  ages."  And  she 
moved  forward  and  would  have  laid  her  hand 
upon  the  lion's  tumbled  mane  had  he  not  drawn 
back  and  away  to  the  somber  bosom  of  his 
mother,  Night. 

"  Yes,  I  seem  to  remember  all  this  now.  I 
surely  saw  that  lion  long,  long  ago,  and  loved 
61 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

him,"  she  said  to  the  man  at  last,  looking  out 
and  away  to  the  holy  mountain. 

"  And  you  have  been  here  before  ?  " 
"  Yes,  yes,  when    Moses   passed    this    way, 
thousands  of  years  back,  I  was  here.     I  remem 
ber  it  all  as  if  it  were  but  yesterday." 

In  line  with  this  wonderful  mastery  of  hers 
over  wild  beasts,  wild  men,  all  things  animate 
or  inanimate,  let  us  quote  a  chapter  from  the 
pen  of  her  companion.  It  might  well  be  called 
A  Study  in  Yellow. 

"  One  warm  sunset,  as  the  boat  lay  with 
its  prow  in  the  yellow  sand  that  seemed 
to  stretch  away  into  infinity,  she  proposed 
that  she  and  I  should  ascend  to  the  top  of  the 
ruins  on  a  hill  a  little  distance  back  from  the 
river,  and  there  wait  and  watch  for  the  coming 
day. 

"  It  was  a  dreadful  place.  I  had  walked  only  a 
little  way  out,  but  on  seeing  a  shriveled  black 
hand  stretching  up  from  the  sand,  I  had  turned 
back  ;  only  to  stumble  over  the  head  of  a  mummy 
which  I  afterward  saw  one  of  our  servants  gather 
up  and  take  to  his  Copt  camp  for  firewood. 
62 


In  the  Sweat  of  Thy  Face 

Still,  we  had  been  pent  up  in  the  boat  much  ; 
and  then  would  not  she  be  with  me  ? 

"  Two  Arabs  were  taken  with  us  to  carry  a 
bottle  of  water  and  the  rugs  and  robes.  The 
hill  was  steeper  than  it  at  first  seemed ;  and  the 
ascent  through  the  sand  heavy.  I  was  having  an 
opportunity  to  test  her  strength  and  endurance. 
As  we  entered  between  two  columns  of  red  gran 
ite,  one  of  the  servants  dropped  on  a  knee  and 
spread  his  hand  as  wide  as  he  could  in  the  sand. 
But  wide  as  he  spread  it,  he  could  not  more  than 
half  cover  the  fresh  foot-print  of  a  huge  lion. 

"  The  clamber  to  the  top  was  steep  and  hard. 
Yet  it  was  not  nearly  so  steep  and  hard  as  I  could 
have  wished  it,  when  I  reflected  that  very  likely 
before  midnight  a  lion  might  pass  that  way. 

"  We  found  that  these  wonderful  columns 
were  capped  with  great  slabs  of  granite.  These 
slabs  were  of  astonishing  breadth  and  thick 
ness.  This  temple,  as  it  is  called,  had  prob 
ably  been  a  tomb.  I  took  good  care  to  see  that 
there  was  no  other  means  of  ascent  to  the  place 
where  we  had  chosen  to  spend  the  night  than  the 
one  by  which  we  had  ascended.  And  I  remem 
ber  how  eagerly  I  wished  for  a  crowbar  in  order 
63 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

that  I  might  break  down  a  little  of  the  debris,  so 
that  the  ascent  might  be  less  easy  for  prowling 
beasts. 

"  The  sky  was  rimmed  with  yellow;  a  yellow 
to  the  east,  yellow  to  the  west ;  a  world  of  soft 
and  restful  yellow  that  melted  away  by  gradations 
as  the  eye  ascended  from  the  desert.  It  was  like 
melody  in  its  serene  harmonies  and  awful  glory. 

"And  she  at  my  side  partook  of  it  all ;  she 
breathed  it,  absorbed  it,  literally  became  a  part  of 
it.  I  saw  her  grow  and  glow.  Soul  and  body  I 
saw  her  dilate  and  expand  till  she  was  in  absolute 
harmony  with  the  golden  yellow  splendor  that 
encompassed  us.  I  felt  that  she  had  been  in  the 
midst  of,  even  a  part  of,  this  tawny  desolation 
ages  and  ages  before.  Perhaps  her  soul  had  been 
born  here,  born  before  the  pyramids. 

"With  my  own  hands  I  spread  her  couch  of 
skins  and  rugs  in  the  remotest  corner  of  a  great 
stone  slab  that  topped  a  column,  high  above  the 
tawny  sands  of  the  desert.  The  night  was  very 
sultry,  even  here  on  this  high  and  roomy  summit. 
The  broad,  deep  slab  of  granite  was  still  warm 
with  sunshine  gone  away,  and  gave  out  heat  like 
a  dying  furnace.  The  steep  and  arduous  ascent 
64 


In  the  Sweat  of  Thy  Face 

had  taxed  her  strength,  and  unloosing  her  robe  as 
I  turned  to  examine  more  minutely  our  strange 
quarters  on  the  top  of  this  lofty  tomb,  or  temple, 
she  sank  to  rest,  half  reclining  on  her  arm,  her 
chin  in  her  upturned  palm,  her  face  lifted  away 
toward  the  rising  moon. 

"  Half  a  dozen  paces  to  the  right  two  tall  and 
ponderous  columns  of  granite  stood  in  line  with 
those  that  supported  the  great  slab  on  which  she 
rested.  Evidently  these  grand  and  solitary  col 
umns  had  also  once  been  topped  by  granite  slabs. 
But  these  had  fallen  to  the  ground  under  the 
leveling  feet  of  many  centuries,  and  now  lay 
almost  swallowed  up  in  the  sea  of  yellow  sands 
below.  I  put  out  my  foot  carefully,  trying  to 
reach  the  broad  top  of  the  nearest  columns  of 
granite,  but  it  was  beyond  me.  Stepping  back  a 
couple  of  paces  and  quietly  removing  my  boots, 
I  gathered  up  my  strength  and  made  a  leap,  land 
ing  almost  in  the  center  of  the  column's  top. 
A  half-step  backward,  another  leap — who  could 
resist  the  challenge  of  that  lone  and  kingly  col 
umn  that  remained  ?  I  landed  securely  as  before, 
then  turned  about.  Her  face  had  not  lifted  an 
instant  from  the  awful  majesty  of  the  Orient. 

5  65 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

"  Slowly,  wearily,  the  immense  moon  came 
shouldering  up  through  the  seas  of  yellow  sand. 

"  These  billows  of  sand  seemed  to  breathe  and 
move.  The  expiring  heat  of  the  departed  sun 
made  them  scintillate  and  shimmer  in  a  soft  and 
undulating  light.  And  yet  it  was  not  light ;  only 
the  lone  and  solemn  ghost  of  departed  day.  Yel 
low  and  huge  and  startling  stood  the  moon  at  last, 
full  grown  and  fearful  in  its  nearness  and  immen 
sity  on  the  topmost  lift  of  yellow  sands  in  the 
yellow  sea  before  us.  Distance  seemed  to  be 
annihilated.  The  moon  seemed  to  have  forgotten 
her  place  and  all  proportion.  Looking  down  into 
the  yellow  Nile,  it  seemed  a  bottomless  chasm. 

"And  it  seemed  so  far  away  !  And  the  moon 
so  very  near. 

"  Silence,  desolation,  death  lay  on  all  things 
below,  about,  above.  The  west  was  molten  yel 
low  gold,  faint  and  fading,  it  is  true :  but  where 
the  yellow  sands  left  off  and  the  yellow  skies 
began  no  man  could  say  or  guess,  save  by  the 
yellow  stars  that  studded  the  west  with  an  inten- 
sest  yellow. 

"  Yellow  to  the  right  and  yellow  to  the  left, 
yellow  overhead  and  yellow  underfoot ;  with  only 
66 


In  the  Sweat  of  Thy  Face 

this  endless  chasm  of  Erebus  cleaving  the  yellow 
earth  and  yellow  heavens  in  halves. 

"  After  a  time — and  all  the  world  still  one  sea 
of  softened  yellow,  torn  in  two  by  Charon's 
chasm  of  waters — I  silently  leaped  back,  replaced 
my  boots  on  my  feet  and  then  held  my  breath. 
For  my  servants  had  beckoned  and  I  had  seen, 
or  perhaps  felt,  an  object  move  on  the  lifted  levels 
of  sand  between  us  and  the  moon. 

u  Cautiously  I  sank  down  on  my  breast  and 
peered  low  and  long  up  the  horizon.  I  saw, 
heard  nothing.  Glancing  around  to  where  my 
companion  lay,  I  saw  that  she  still  had  not  stirred 
from  the  half-reclining  position  she  had  first  taken, 
with  half-lifted  face  in  her  upturned  palm. 

"  Then  she  had  seen  nothing,  heard  nothing. 
This,  however,  did  not  argue  much.  Her  life 
had  not  been  of  the  desert.  She  had  spent  her 
years  in  the  study  of  men  and  women.  I  had 
spent  mine  with  wild  beasts.  I  could  trust  her 
to  detect  motives  in  men,  give  the  warning  note 
of  danger  from  dangerous  men ;  but  the  wild 
beasts  and  wilder  men  of  the  border  were  mine 
to  watch  and  battle  with,  not  hers. 

"  She  had  seen  nothing ;  evidently  she  feared 
67 


'The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

nothing,  and  so  was  resting,  resting  in  mind  as 
in  body.  And  as  I  glanced  again  over  my 
shoulder  and  saw  how  entirely  content  she 
seemed,  I  was  glad.  Surely  she  depended 
entirely  on  me ;  on  my  watchfulness  and  my 
courage.  And  this  made  me  more  watchful  and 
more  resolute  and  stout  of  heart.  A  man  likes 
to  be  trusted.  A  true  man  likes  a  true  woman's 
trust,  much  indeed.  A  strong  man  likes  to  be 
leaned  upon.  It  makes  him  stronger,  braver, 
better.  Let  women  never  forget  this.  Admit 
that  she,  too,  has  her  days  of  strength  and  endu 
rance  ;  and  admit  that  she,  too,  has  her  peculiar 
fortress  of  strength  and  courage,  and  these  also 
man  respects  and  regards  with  piteous  tenderness. 
But  man,  incapable  of  her  finer  and  loftier  cour 
age  and  endurance,  resents  her  invasion  of  his 
prerogative. 

u  It  is  only  a  womanly  man  who  can  really  love 
a  manly  woman.  But  to  continue :  Looking  a 
third  time  to  this  woman  I  saw  that  she  had  let 
her  head  sink  low  on  her  leaning  arm.  She  was 
surely  sleeping.  How  I  liked  her  trust  and  her 
faith  in  me  !  And  how  I  liked  her  courage,  too, 
and  her  high  quality  of  endurance.  It  was  her 
68 


In  the  Sweat  of  Thy  Face 

courage  that  had  brought  me  up  here  this  night 
to  the  contemplation  of  awful  and  all-glorious 
Africa.  Silently  and  without  lifting  a  finger,  she 
had  shown  me  a  world  of  burnished  gold.  I 
had  surely  seen  God  through  her.  We  stood 
nearer  together  now  than  ever  before.  This 
single  hour  of  indescribable  glory  should  forever 
stand  as  an  altar  in  the  desert.  Our  souls  had 
melted  and  flown  and  tided  on,  intermingled 
like  molten  gold  in  the  golden  atmosphere  and 
the  yellow  scene  that  wrapped  us  round  about, 
and  no  word  had  been  said.  When  God  speaks 
so  audibly,  let  man  be  silent. 

u  I  must  have  looked  on  the  sleeping  and  trust 
ful  woman  at  my  side  longer  than  I  should,  for 
on  turning  my  eyes  again  to  the  horizon,  there, 
distinctly  on  the  yellow  sand  and  under  the  yel 
low  moon  moved,  stealthily  as  a  cat,  yet  graceful 
and  grand,  the  most  kingly  beast  I  ever  beheld. 
He  did  not  look  right  nor  left,  but  moved  along 
with  huge  head  in  the  air,  slow  and  stately,  and 
triumphant  in  his  fearful  symmetry  and  strength. 

"As  I  half  arose  the  lion  suddenly  halted.  He 
lifted  his  proud  head  higher  still  in  the  air,  and  to 
my  consternation  half  turned  about  and  looked 
69 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

straight  in  my  direction.  Then  a  sidewise  and 
circuitous  step  or  two  with  his  long  reach  of 
hinder  leg,  his  wide  and  deep  and  flexible  flank ; 
slow  and  kingly  ;  splendid  to  see  ! 

"  I  sank  down  again,  quite  willing  to  let  him 
interview  the  camp  in  the  black  chasm  below. 
They  had  spears  and  guns  and  everything  down 
there,  everything  but  courage  to  face  a  lion  with  ; 
and  I  was  not  going  to  interfere  with  a  fight  which 
at  the  first  had  promised  to  be  entirely  their 
own. 

"  But  this  new  movement  of  mine  only  accent 
uated  his  graceful  motion.  The  head  now  turned 
in  the  air,  like  the  head  of  a  man.  I  had  time 
to  note,  and  I  record  it  with  certainty,  that  the 
massive  head  and  the  tumbled  mane  towered 
straight  above  the  shoulder.  In  fact,  the  lower 
parts  of  the  long  mane  looked  most  like  the  long 
shaggy  beard  of  a  man  falling  down  upon  his 
broad  breast.  This  I  noted  as  he  still  kept  on 
in  his  sidewise  circuit  above  us  and  around  us  on 
the  yellow  sand  and  under  the  yellow  moon.  At 
times  he  was  almost  indistinct.  But  the  carriage 
of  that  head  !  There  was  a  fine  fascination  in 
the  lift  and  the  movement  and  the  turn  of  that 
70 


In  the  Sweat  of  Thy  Face 

stately  head  that  must  ever  be  remembered,  but 
can  never  be  described. 

"As  he  came  nearer — for  his  sidewise  walk  was 
mainly  in  our  direction — I  saw  that  he,  too,  was 
yellow,  as  if  born  of  this  yellow  world  in  this  yel 
low  night;  but  his  was  a  more  ponderous  yellow  ; 
the  yellow  of  red  and  rusty  old  gold.  At  times  he 
seemed  almost  black ;  and  all  the  time  terrible. 

"  In  half  a  minute  more  he  would  be  too  close 
for  comfort,  and  I  decided  to  arouse  my  com 
panion.  She  wakened  fully  awake,  if  I  may  be 
allowed  to  express  a  fact  so  awkwardly.  You 
may  know  that  there  are  people  like  that. 

"  '  What  is  it  ? ' 

"CA  lion.' 

" c  Well,  there  is  room  for  us  all.    Let  us  rest.' 

" '  Where  ? ' 

"  She  had  looked  and  was  still  looking  far  out 
against  the  yellow  horizon  where  her  eyes  had 
rested  when  she  fell  asleep.  And  as  she  looked, 
or  rather  before  I  ventured  to  point  her  to  the 
spot  almost  under  the  tomb  where  the  lion  strode, 
he  passed  on  and  was  by  this  time  perhaps  almost 
quite  under  the  great  slab  of  granite  where  we 
rested. 

71 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

"  I  was  about  to  whisper  the  fact  in  her  ear 
when  I  fancied  I  felt  the  whole  tomb  tremble  ! 
Then  it  seemed  to  shake,  or  rather  rumble  again. 
Then  again  it  rumbled.  Then  again  !  Then 
there  was  a  roar  that  literally  shook  the  sand.  I 
heard  the  sand  sift  and  rattle  down  like  drops  of 
rain  from  where  it  lay  in  the  crevices  as  I  lis 
tened  to  find  whether  or  not  he  was  moving  for 
ward  toward  the  place  by  which  we  had  ascended. 
He  was  surely  moving  forward.  I  felt  rather 
than  heard  him  move.  I  assert — and  I  must 
content  myself  for  the  present  with  merely 
asserting — that  you  can  feel  the  movements  of 
an  animal  under  such  circumstances.  And  I 
assert  further  that  an  animal,  especially  a  wild 
beast,  can  feel  your  movements  under  almost  any 
circumstances.  The  undeveloped  senses  deserve 
a  book  by  themselves. 

"  Pistol  in  hand  I  sprang  to  the  steep  and  rugged 
passage.  And  not  a  second  too  soon.  His 
mighty  head  was  almost  on  a  level  with  the 
granite  slab.  And  he  was  half  crouching  for  a 
bound  and  a  spring  upward,  which  would  per 
haps  land  him  in  our  faces.  I  could  see — or  did 
I  feel — that  his  huge  hinder  feet  were  spread  wide 
72 


In  the  Sweat  of  Thy  Face 

out  and  sunken  in  the  sand  with  preparation  to 
lend  all  their  force  toward  bearing  him  upward 
in  one  mighty  bound. 

u  I  fired  !  fired  right  into  his  big,  red  mouth, 
between  two  hideous  pickets  of  ugly,  yellowteeth. 
He  fell  back,  and  then,  gathering  his  ferocious 
strength,  he  bounded  up  and  forward  again  ;  this 
time  striking  his  left  shoulder  heavily  against  a 
projecting  corner  of  the  granite  slab.  Fortu 
nately  the  ascent  was  slightly  curving,  so  that 
the  distance  could  not  be  made  at  a  single  bound 
without  collision. 

"Again  the  supple  and  comely  beast,  disdaining 
to  creep  or  crawl,  made  a  mighty  leap  upward. 
But  only  to  strike  the  rounding  corner  of  the 
great  granite  slab  and  fall  back  as  before. 

"  But  I  knew  he  would  reach  us  in  time  !  And 
if  ever  man  did  wish  for  fitting  arms  to  fight 
with  and  defend  woman  it  was  I  at  that  time. 
True,  I  had  five  shots  left ;  but  what  were  they 
in  the  face  of  this  furious  king  of  beasts  ?  I 
began  to  fear  that  they  would  only  serve  to  en 
rage  him. 

"  Still,  he  should  have  all  I  had  to  give.  Death 
is,  has  been,  and  will  be.  The  best  we  can 

73 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

make  of  it  all  is  to  try  and  see  that  we  shall  not 
die  ingloriously. 

"The  woman  had  been  by  my  side  all  this  time. 
And  now,  as  the  lion  paused  as  if  to  gather  up  the 
broken  thunderbolts  of  his  strength,  she  laid  a 
hand  on  my  arm,  never  so  gently,  and  said  : 
c  Let  me  go  down  and  meet  him  face  to  face. 
I  think  he  will  not  harm  me/ 

" c  Madam,'  I  exclaimed  impetuously,  c  you 
will  meet  him  up  here,  and  face  to  face,  soon 
enough,  I  think/ 

" '  No,  that  will  not  do.  You  must  trust  the 
lion  ;  as  Daniel  did/ 

"  I  pushed  her  back,  as  she  tried  to  pass  down, 
almost  violently. 

" c  Madam,5  I  cried  as  I  wheeled  about  and 
forced  her  before  me,  c  if  you  have  real  courage 
leap  to  the  head  of  yonder  column,  where  those 
servants  stand  shivering,  then  on  to  the  next ! 
Quick !  be  brave  enough  to  save  yourself! J 

"Another  leap  of  the  lion  !     Bang!     Bang! 

"  This  time  he  did  not  fall  back,  but  held  on 
by  sheer  force  of  his  powerful  arms ;  his  ter 
rible  claws  tearing  at  the  granite  slab  as  they 
hung  and  hooked  over  its  outer  edge. 

74 


In  the  Sweat  of  Thy  Face 

"  Bang  !  Bang  !  Bang  !  The  last  shot.  I 
hurled  my  revolver  in  his  face,  for  he  had  not 
flinched  or  given  back  a  single  grain.  His 
breath  and  my  breath  were  mingled  there  in  the 
smoke  of  my  pistol.  I  heard — or  did  I  feel — 
his  great  hinder  feet  fastening  in  the  steep  earth 
under  him  for  his  final  struggle  to  the  top  ? 

"  I  turned,  saw  that  she  had  reluctantly  reached 
the  farther  column ;  and  with  three  leaps  and  a 
bound  I  crossed  the  granite  slabs  and  stood  erect 
on  the  nearer  one  !  Not  a  moment  had  I  left. 
The  lion,  with  great  noise  of  claws  on  the  gran 
ite,  came  tearing  to  the  surface.  I  crouched 
down  out  of  breath  on  the  outer  edge  of  my 
column,  so  as  to  be  surely  out  of  reach  of  his 
ponderous  paws.  I  expected  him  to  decide  the 
matter  at  once,  to  reach  us  or  give  it  up  instantly. 
But  he  seemed  in  no  haste  now.  He  scarcely 
advanced  at  all,  for  what  seemed  to  me  to  be  a 
long  time.  Finally,  jerking  his  tail  like  the 
swift  movement  of  a  serpent,  he  strode  along 
the  farthest  edge  of  the  granite  slab  and  seemed 
to  take  no  notice  of  us  whatever.  Blood  was 
dripping  from  his  mouth,  but  he  did  not  seem  to 
heed  it. 

75 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

"  Once  more  he  strode  with  his  old  majesty, and 
seemed  ashamed  that  he  should  have  submitted 
to  the  indignity  of  a  struggle  to  gain  the  place 
where  he  now  stood  sullen  and  triumphant. 
Enraged  ?  He  was  choking,  dying  with  rage ; 
and  yet  this  kingly  creature  would  not  even  con 
descend  to  look  in  our  direction. 

"  Why,  I  could  feel  his  fearful  rage  as  he  now 
walked  on  and  around  the  edge  of  that  granite 
slab.  At  length  he  came  opposite  to  where  I 
lay  crouching  on  the  farther  edge  of  my  column. 
He  passed  on  without  so  much  as  turning  his 
eyes  in  my  direction.  And  yet  I  felt,  I  felt  and 
knew,  as  distinctly  as  if  he  could  have  talked 
and  told  me,  that  he  was  carefully  measuring 
the  distance. 

"When  the  lion,  in  his  stately  round,  came  to 
the  narrow  pass  by  which  he  had  ascended  he 
paused  an  instant,  and  half  lowered  his  head. 

"Ah,  how  devoutly  I  did  pray  that  he  would 
be  generous  enough  to  descend  to  the  sands  and 
present  us  with  his  absence. 

u  But  no  !  Lifting  his  huge  head  even  higher 
in  the  air  than  before,  he  now  passed  on  hur 
riedly,  came  on  around  to  where  he  stood  with 
76 


In  the  Sweat  of  Thy  Face 

quivering  flank  and  flashing  eye  almost  within 
reach  of  me.  Yet  he  still  disdained  to  even  so 
much  as  look  at  me.  His  head  was  far  above 
me  as  I  crouched  there  on  the  farther  edee  of 

O 

my  column ;  his  flashing  eyes  were  lifted  and 
looking  far  above  me  and  beyond  me.  Maybe 
he  was  on  the  lookout  over  the  desert  for  the 
coming  of  his  companion. 

"  Soon,  however,  he  set  his  huge  paws  on  the 
very  edge  of  the  great  slab  on  which  he  stood, 
and  then  suddenly  threw  his  right  paw  out  toward 
me  and  against  the  edge  of  my  column  with  the 
force  and  velocity  of  a  catapult ! 

"  I  heard  the  sharp,  keen  claws  strike  and 
scrape  on  the  granite  as  if  they  had  been  hooks 
of  steel. 

"  Then  he  threw  himself  on  his  breast,  and 
hitching  himself  a  little  to  one  side,  he  threw  his 
right  paw  so  far  that  it  landed  full  in  the  center 
of  my  column's  top  and  tore  my  coat  sleeve. 
Then  he  hitched  his  huge  body  a  little  farther 
on  over  the  edge  and  again  threw  his  huge  paw 
right  at  my  face.  It  fell  short  of  its  mark  only 
a  few  inches,  as  it  seemed  to  me.  But,  having 
hastily  gathered  in  my  garments,  his  claws  did 

77 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

not  find  anything  to  fasten  on  and  they  drew 
back  empty. 

"At  this  point  three  dusky  etchings  stood  out 
against  the  golden  east  on  the  yellow  sands,  and 
looked  intently  at  us  with  their  enormous  heads 
high  in  the  air.  And  now  the  beast  slowly  arose 
and  moved  on.  A  lion's  head  seems  always  dis 
proportionately  large,  but  when  he  is  exercising 
for  an  appetite  to  eat  you  it  looks  large  indeed. 

"  The  monster  who  was  occupying  the  plat 
form  with  us  surely  saw  his  followers ;  indeed, 
he  must  have  seen  them  long  before ;  but  his 
unbending  dignity  seemed  to  forbid  that  he 
should  take  heed  of  them. 

"  The  new-born  hope  that  he  would  descend 
and  join  his  followers  died  as  he  came  on  around. 

"And  now  something  strange  and  notable 
transpired.  This  one  incident  is  my  excuse  for 
thus  elaborating  this  otherwise  passive  and  tedi 
ously  dull  sketch  of  this  night.  I  had  risen  to 
my  feet,  and  as  the  lion  came  on  around,  this 
woman,  with  a  force  that  was  irresistible,  sprang 
to  my  side,  thrust  me  behind  her,  and  stepping 
forward  with  a  single  spring,  she  stood  on  the 
edge  of  the  column  nearest  to  the  lion. 
78 


In  the  Sweat  of  Thy  Face 

"  I  would  have  followed,  but  that  same  force, 
which  I  can  now  understand  was  a  mental  force 
and  not  at  all  a  physical  force,  held  me  hard 
and  fast  to  where  I  stood. 

"  She  let  her  robe  fall  as  she  sprang  forward 
and  now  stood  only  as  the  hand  of  God  had 
fashioned  her ;  a  snow-white  silhouette  of  per 
fect  comeliness  against  the  terrible  and  bloody 
mouth  and  tossing  mane  of  the  lion.  She  leaned 
forward  as  he  came  on  around  and  close  to  the 
edge  of  his  slab.  She  looked  him  firmly  and 
steadily  in  the  face,  her  wondrous  eyes,  her  mid 
night  eyes  of  all  Israel,  the  child  of  the  wilder 
ness,  had  once  more  met  the  lion  of  the  desert 
as  of  old. 

"  Who  was  this  woman  here  who  stepped 
between  death  and  me  and  stood  looking  a 
wounded  lion  in  the  face  ?  Was  this  Judith 
again  incarnate  ?  Or  was  this  something  more 
than  Judith  ?  Was  it  the  Priestess  and  the 
Prophetess  Miriam,  back  once  more  to  the  banks 
of  the  Nile  ?  Was  it  the  old  and  forgotten 
mastery  of  all  things  animate  which  Moses  and 
his  sister  knew  that  gave  her  dominion  over  the 
king  of  the  desert  ?  Or  was  her  name  Mary  ? 

79 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

'  That  Mary,'  if  you  will,  who  won  all  things 
to  her  side,  God  in  heaven,  God  upon  earth,  by 
the  sad,  sweet  pity  of  her  face,  and  the  story  of 
holy  love  that  was  written  there  ?  The  lion's 
head  for  a  moment  forgot  its  lofty  defiance  as 
she  leaned  a  little  forward.  Then  the  tossed 
and  troubled  mane  rose  up  and  rolled  forward 
like  an  inflowing  sea.  It  seemed  never  so  terri 
ble.  He  was  surely  about  to  spring  !  And  she, 
too  !  Her  right  foot  settled  solidly  back,  her 
left  knee  bent  like  a  bow,  her  shapely  and  snowy 
shoulders,  under  their  glory  of  black  hair,  bowed 
low.  Her  dauntless  and  defiant  spirit  had  already 
precipitated  itself  forward  and  was  smiting  the 
imperious  beast  full  in  his  blazing  eyes.  I  felt 
that  her  body  would  follow  her  spirit  in  an  instant 
more. 

"Face  to  face!  Spirit  to  spirit!  Soul  to  soul! 
A  second  only  the  combat  lasted.  The  awful 
ferocity  and  force  of  the  brute  was  beaten  down, 
melted  like  soft  battlements  of  snow  before  the 
burning  arrows  of  the  sun,  and  he  slowly,  sur 
lily,  shrank  in  size,  in  spirit,  in  space.  A  paw 
drew  back  from  the  edge  of  the  block,  the 
eyes  drooped,  the  head  dropped  a  little,  and  the 
80 


In  the  Sweat  of  Thy  Face 

terrible  mane  seemed  terrible  no  more,  as  slowly, 
doggedly,  mightily,  aye  doggedly  and  majestically, 
too,  at  the  same  time,  this  noble  creature  forced 
himself  sidewise  and  back  a  little. 

"  Then  he  hesitated.  Rebellion  was  in  his 
mighty  heart.  He  turned  suddenly  and  looked 
her  full  in  the  face  once  more.  All  the  beast 
that  was  in  him  rose  up.  The  terrible  mane 
now  seemed  more  terrible  than  before.  With 
great  head  tossed,  tail  whipped  back,  and  teeth 
in  the  air,  talons  unsheathed  and  legs  gathered 
under  him,  he  was  about  to  bound  forward. 

"  But  the  woman  was  before  him  !  With  eyes 
still  fastened  on  his  face,  she  with  one  long  leap 
forward  drove  not  only  her  shining  soul  but  her 
snowy  body  right  against  his  teeth.  Or  rather, 
she  had  surely  done  so  had  not  the  lion,  half 
turned  about,  shrank  back  as  she  leaped  forward. 
Then  slowly,  looking  back  with  his  blazing  but 
cowering  eyes,  feeling  back  with  his  spirit  still 
defiant,  if  but  to  see  whether  her  courage  failed 
her  in  the  least  or  her  mighty  spirit  was  still  in 
battle  armor;  and  then  he  passed.  His  compan 
ions  had  drawn  back  and  into  a  depression  in  the 
desert  where  he  slowly  and  sullenly  joined  them. 

6  81 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

"  One,  two,  three,  four  dim  yet  distinct  black 
silhouettes  against  the  yellow  east ;  then  but  a 
single  confused  black  etching;  away,  away, 
smaller  and  smaller,  gone  ! 

"  I  gathered  up  her  robe,  crossed  over,  let  it  fall 
on  her  shoulders  where  she  still  stood,  looking 
down  and  after  the  beast.  She  sighed :  c  I  am 
sorry,  so  sorry  ;  sorry  for  you  both/  ' 


.  —  The  Christ  in  Egypt 


O  LAND  of  temples,  land  of  tombs  ! 

O  tawny  land,  O  lion  dead  ! 
O  silent  land  of  silent  looms  ; 

Of  kingly  garments  torn  to  shred  ! 
O  land  of  storied  wonder  still,  as  when 
Fair  Joseph  stood  the  chiefest  of  all  men  ! 


The  Christ  in  Egypt !     Egypt  and 

Her  mystic  star-tipt  Pyramids  ! 
Her  shoreless,  tiger  seas  of  sand  ! 

Her  Sphynx  with  fixed  and  weary  lids  ! 
Her  red  and  rolling  Nile  of  yellow  sheaves 
Where  Moses  cradled  'mid  his  lily  leaves. 

Her  lorn,  dread  temples  of  the  dead 
Had  waited,  as  mute  milestones  wait 

By  some  untraversed  way  unread, 
Until  the  King,  or  soon  or  late, 

Should  come  that  tomb-built  way  and  silent  pass 

To  read  their  signs  above  the  sand-sown  grass. 

Behold  !   amid  this  majesty 

Of  ruin,  at  the  dust-heaped  tomb 

Of  vanity  came  Christ  to  see 

Earth's  emptiness,  the  dark  death-room 

Of  haughtiness,  of  kingly  pomp,  of  greed, 

Of  gods  of  gold  or  stone,  or  storied  creed. 

And  this  His  first  abiding-place  ! 

And  these  dread  scenes  His  childhood's  toys  ! 
What  wonder  at  that  thoughtful  face  ? 

That  boy-face  never  yet  a  boy's  ? 
What  wonder  that  the  elders  marveled  when 
A  boy  spake  in  the  Temple  unto  men  ? 

83 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

WHEN  the  perfect  woman  comes — and 
she  will  come — she  will  appeal  to  the 
soul  of  man,  not  to  his  body ;  and  then  the 
perfect  man  will  not  be  far  off. 

Whoever  this  majestic  and  beautiful  woman 
was, — this  piteously  beautiful  woman,  whatever 
she  was  yet  to  be  or  may  have  been, — she  seemed 
to  be,  from  the  first  time  he  encountered  her  at 
Jerusalem,  entirely  unconscious  of  sex.  She 
seemed  not  to  be  a  body,  but  a  soul ;  and  a 
soul,  as  said  before,  that  was  growing  daily,  as  a 
great  magnolia  flower-tree  grows,  with  its  perfect 
flowers  and  its  soft,  warm,  sensuous  perfume, 
widening,  warming  day  by  day  till  it  fills  the  gar 
den,  turns  all  faces  to  this  one  flower-tree,  draws 
all  things  to  itself,  and  drowns  all  senses  but  this 
one  sense  of  perfume  and  the  perfection  of  form 
and  color. 

As  they  had  descended  through  the  deserts  and 
wilderness,  and,  as  before  noted,  had  retraced  the 
ancient  path  by  which  Israel  had  gone  up  out  of 
Egypt,  she  seemed  to  this  man  who  companioned 
her,  followed  her  afar  off,  to  be  all-powerful. 

There  is  a  lone  obelisk  where  stood  the  city 
On,  famous  as  the  place  where  Plato  and  others 


The  Christ  in  Egypt 

of  the  wise  men  studied  philosophy, — one  lone 
obelisk ;  and  that  is  all  you  can  see  to-day  of  the 
storied  city  of  On,  where,  it  is  still  whispered, 
men  gathered  together  who  knew  all  things, — 
even  to  the  secrets  that  were  before  life  and  are 
after  death. 

Some  palm-trees  stood  not  far  away,  and  the 
two  sat  on  a  toppled  granite  column  in  silence 
there  together  as  the  sun  was  going  down  on 
tawny,  tired,  and  prostrate  Egypt. 

"  Oh,  to  see  Egypt  rise  up  and  stand  erect  in 
her  splendor  once  more  before  the  end  of  the 
world ! "  He  said  this  at  last,  as  the  sun  lay 
level  on  the  red  waters  of  the  Nile,  and  dashed 
the  world  with  molten  gold. 

Was  it  a  sense  of  pain  that  tinged  her  face, — 
displeasure,  effort,  exhaustion,  something  such  as 
Christ  felt  as  he  turned  to  the  woman  when  she 
touched  the  hem  of  His  garment  ?  Or  was  it  a 
sense  of  his  own  unworthiness  which  made  him 
to  imagine  that  a  faint  tinge  of  displeasure  swept 
over  her  face  as  she  lifted  it  to  the  waters,  and 
in  silence  put  forth  her  hand  as  she  arose  ? 

Who  shall  say  ?  And  what  matter  ?  His 
eyes,  as  he  sprang  to  his  feet,  followed  the  direc- 
85 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

tion  of  her  hand,  and  there,  before  his  startled 
vision,  in  all  her  storied  splendor  of  dome,  citadel, 
and  battlement,  grove,  garden,  turret  and  tower, 
that  melted  into  the  hazy  horizon  and  filled  all 
the  face  of  the  earth  as  far  as  the  eye  could 
sweep,  lay  ancient  Egypt.  Describe  the  scene  ? 
The  attempt  would  be  profanity.  Account  for 
this  power  of  hers  ?  Or  did  she  merely  fancy 
all  this  and  make  his  fancy  follow  hers  ?  When 
science  will  come  forward  and  account  for  the 
cities,  seas,  forests,  armies  with  banners,  heroes, 
battle  harness,  that  men  see  on  the  plains  and 
deserts  of  America,  without  even  the  presence 
of  any  finer  organization  than  their  own  to  call 
up  these  visions,  then  will  it  be  time  enough  to 
give  some  reasons  here. 

As  her  wearied  hand  fell  to  her  side,  she  sank 
back ;  all  Egypt  of  old  fell  down  and  lay  again 
in  dust  beneath  her  pyramids.  He  felt  that  now 
she  was  as  far  away  from  him  and  above  him 
and  beyond  him,  as  was  the  farthest  and  loftiest 
column  she  had  recalled  to  existence.  He  sighed 
as  they  turned  in  silence  home.  He  now  began 
to  see  his  uselessness  and  his  helplessness  in  her 
presence.  All  the  manhood  in  the  man  began 
86 


The  Christ  in  Egypt 

to  rise  in  self-assertion.  He  grew  more  firmly 
resolved  than  ever  to  go  forth  alone  and  meditate 
and  purify  his  soul,  go  up  in  the  mountains  to 
pray,  as  did  the  prophets  of  old,  till  he,  too,  had 
Faith. 


IX. — Awaiting  the  Resurrection  at 
Karnak 

LORN  land  of  silence,  land  of  awe  ! 

Lorn,  lawless  land  of  Moslem  will, — 
The  great  Law-giver  and  the  law 

Have  gone  away  together.      Still 
The  sun  shines  on  ;  still  Nilus  darkly  red 
Steals  on  between  his  awful  walls  of  dead. 

And  sapphire  skies  still  bend  as  when 

Proud  Karnak's  countless  columns  propped 

The  corners  of  the  world  5  when  men 
Kept  watch  where  massive  Cheops  topped 

Their  utmost  reach  of  thought,  and  sagely  drew 

Their  star-lit  lines  along  the  trackless  blue. 

But  Phthah  lies  prostrate  evermore  ; 

And  Thoth  and  Neith  all  are  gone ; 
And  huge  Osiris  hears  no  more, 

Thebes'  melodies  5  nor  Mut  at  On  j 
Yet  one  lone  obelisk  still  lords  the  spot 
Where  Plato  sat  to  learn.  But  On  is  not. 

Nor  yet  has  Time  encompassed  all ; 

You  trace  your  finger  o'er  a  name 
That  mocks  at  age  within  the  wall 

Of  fearful  Karnak.      Sword  nor  flame 
Shall  touch  what  men  have  journeyed  far  to  touch 
And  felt  eternity  in  daring  such  ! 

« « Juda  Melchi  Shishak  !  ' »     Read 

The  Holy  Book  5  read  how  that  he 
With  chariot  and  champing  steed 

Invaded  far  and  fair  Judea. 
Yea,  read  the  chronicle  of  red  hands  laid 
On  "  shields  of  gold  which  Solomon  had  made." 


Awaiting  the  Resurrection  at  Karnak 

HE  WOULD  look  once  more  upon  Upper 
Egypt  through  her  eyes,  and  then  away 
about  his  work.  She  was  so  infinitely  above  him 
that  he  could  only  clasp  his  hands  and  with  lifted 
face  worship  her ;  he  could  worship  her  from 
afar  as  well  as  near  at  hand.  He  could  not  love 
her  more,  though  he  sat  at  her  feet  forever,  and 
walked  at  her  side  even  through  the  shadows  of 
the  valley  of  death.  He  would  not,  he  could 
not,  love  her  less  though  millions  of  miles  away. 

Did  I  forget  to  tell  you  that  her  singularly 
intense  and  perfect  mentality  took  in  and 
absorbed  to  herself  the  minds,  the  inmost 
thoughts  of  those  who  came  in  contact  with 
her  ?  She  knew  men's  thoughts, — may  I  say  it, 
with  humbled  head  ? — as  Christ  knew  men's 
thoughts. 

"  There  is  a  tomb,  mighty  tomb,  not  far  from 
here," — and  this  was  at  Karnak  that  she  now 
spoke, — "  which  no  man  has  entered  since  long, 
long  before  Christ  came  to  Egypt,  and  this  you 
should  see." 

She  had  been  talking  of  his  going,  of  his  plans, 
his  purposes, — talking  to  him  in  the  same  clear, 
sweet  way  as  in  Jerusalem  and  at  Nazareth,  that 
89 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

morning.  And  yet  he  had  said  nothing  at  all  of 
these  things  to  her  for  a  long  time. 

Knowing  that  she  knew  his  heart,  his  hopes, 
his  plans,  how  quietly  good,  patient,  and  true  he 
had  begun  to  grow  !  And  why  should  he  tell 
her  anything,  since  she  knew  all  and  more  than 
all  that  he  could  possibly  find  words  to  utter  in 
all  the  centuries  that  are  to  be  ?  Why  shall 
time  be  wasted  in  helpless,  inane,  and  angular 
words  at  all  ?  Let  us  rather  learn  to  read  the 
soul  in  silence,  and  respect  it. 

Their  boat  was  rocking  on  the  Nile  as  night 
came  on ;  and,  as  the  boatmen  slowly  rowed  for 
the  sandy  shore,  which  she  had  indicated  with 
her  hand  as  the  place  of  the  hidden  tomb,  she 
said  to  the  man  at  her  side,  in  her  quiet  and 
fragmentary  way : 

"  Yes,  Christ  surely  raised  the  dead.  And  do 
you  not  see  that  Egypt  anticipated  all  that  ? 
She  believed,  she  knew  that  some  one  would 
some  day  walk  this  way  so  full  of  the  fires  of  life 
and  immortality,  so  charged  with  that  finer  elec 
tricity  which  men  call  life,  about  which  they  talk 
so  much  but  about  which  they  know  nothing  at 
all,  as  yet, — that  they  laid  their  dead  away  ready 
90 


Awaiting  the  Resurrection  at  Karnak 

to  rise  up  in  all  their  glory  on  earth  after  their 
long  waiting  for  the  Master." 

More,  much  more  she  said  ;  and  all  so  much 
more  intelligently  than  what  is  here  so  imper 
fectly  recalled  and  written  down  ! 

It  was  a  woeful,  grewsome  spot  of  bone  and 
stone,  of  sand  and  serpents,  where  they  landed, 
and  all  tracked  about  with  the  tracks  of  wide- 
footed  and  enormous  lions.  And  they  had  to 
stoop  low,  almost  kneel,  to  enter  the  mouth  of 
the  cavern.  There  was  no  sign  of  man's  hand 
or  foot,  although  she  had  come  to  it  as  if  walk 
ing  a  beaten  road. 

He  had  looked  back  and  down  to  the  men  as 
he  stooped  to  enter  the  gloomy  cavern.  The 
boatmen  had  anchored  in  the  middle  of  the  river, 
— were  they  afraid  of  lions  ?  It  was  soon  dark 
as  they  passed  on  and  on  in  a  stooping  posture ; 
but  she  assured  him  that  in  a  little  time  they 
would  find  the  cavern  lighted.  With  calm  assur 
ance  she  said  that  when  the  great  founder  of 
Babylon  had  been  laid  to  rest  there,  thousands  of 
years  before,  the  walls  were  left  lighted  j  no,  not 
with  electricity,  but  with  a  phosphorescent  light 
that  must  endure  while  the  Nile  endures. 
91 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

But  it  was  wearisome,  stooping  and  groping 
so  long  and  so  far.  He  began  to  fear  that  she 
had  made  some  miscalculation  and  was  lost. 
There  were  other  and  deeper  passes  and  many 
tunnels  that  intersected  this  dark  and  narrow 
one.  He  could  feel  them  as  he  groped  forward 
after  her, — feel  them,  not  altogether  with  his 
hands,  but  with  that  other  and  finer  feeling  which 
she  had,  by  example,  begun  to  teach  him.  She 
paused,  put  out  her  hand,  took  his  in  hers  for 
the  first  time  since  that  first  meeting  in  Jeru 
salem.  But  now  her  hand  trembled, — it  was 
almost  cold.  Had  she  indeed  lost  her  way  ?  Had 
she,  with  her  superhuman  knowledge  and  divine 
gifts,  really  lost  her  way  in  that  awful  wilderness 
of  tombs  ?  Had  she  at  last  lost  her  strength, 
her  faith  ?  Suddenly  she  stopped  short,  and  said  : 
"  There  is  a  lion  in  here." 

The  man  tried  to  stand  erect  and  take  some 
attitude  of  defence,  if  only  to  encourage  her. 
There  was  no  room  to  rise  erect. 

But  now  her  blood  began  to  tide  and  flow 

again.      Her  hand  was  warm  once  more  and  her 

heart  strong.     u  We  will  go  forward,"  she  said 

as  she  again  led  the  way,  "  for  to  go  back  will 

9* 


Awaiting  the  Resurrection  at  Karnak 

be  to  invite  destruction.  He  is  not  far  away; 
I  think  he  is  waiting  in  one  of  the  side  passes. 
There ! " 

Her  hand  was  again  like  ice,  but  only  for  a 
time.  They  stood  leaning,  looking  forward  in 
the  fearful  darkness  at  two  glittering  lights, 
round,  full,  flaming  lights  that  broadened  and 
brightened  and  gleamed  and  glowed  with  a  fierce 
ness,  a  hungry,  animal  fierceness  that  you  could 
feel.  It  was  something  more  than  light,  it  was 
heat.  It  was  heat  that  chilled,  turned  you  cold 
and  froze  you  to  the  marrow.  The  man,  although 
trained  to  the  use  of  arms  and  not  without 
address  in  danger,  had,  ever  since  coming  into 
her  higher  atmosphere,  and  especially  since  that 
night  up  the  Yellow  Nile,  despised  their  use ; 
and  so  here  he  stooped  and  groped,  as  helpless 
and  unmanned  as  a  babe. 

But  her  old  faith  came  back,  even  as  she 
looked  into  the  burning  fires  before  her,  and  with 
a  pressure  of  her  warm  hand  she  led  forward. 
The  pass  widened  now  and  was  roomier  in  every 
way.  It  soon  became  a  sort  of  court,  great 
columns  of  red  and  gray  and  blue  granite  prop 
ping  the  mountains  above.  On  the  outer  edge 
93 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

of  this  court  lay  the  huge  lion,  his  nose  on  his 
paws,  his  eyes,  his  terribly  beautiful  eyes  only, 
giving  the  least  sign  of  life  or  action.  But  for 
those  eyes  of  fire  and  flame,  he,  too,  might  have 
been  counted  as  one  of  the  thousand  images  that 
kept  attendance  on  the  great  Babylonian  who  sat 
his  throne  in  robes  of  state  in  the  vast,  wide 
court  far  beyond. 

That  distant  inner  court  was  still  lighted,  as 
she  had  said,  after  all  the  thousands  of  years ; 
and  there  the  mighty  hunter  of  Babylon  had  sat 
his  golden  and  marble  and  granite  throne  as  time 
rolled  by,  resting  and  resting  and  serenely  wait 
ing  the  resurrection.  The  shapely  columns,  in 
all  their  comeliness  and  strength,  stood  out  before 
the  far-off"  light  in  stately  splendor. 

Miriam  did  not  pause  for  one  moment.  She 
held  the  man's  hand  tight  and  close,  to  make 
certain  that  he,  too,  should  keep  right  on  as  she 
might  lead.  The  lion  did  not  move  ;  he  did  not 
even  lift  his  eyes  as  they  drew  near.  But  sud 
denly  his  tail  whipped  slightly  in  the  dust ;  then 
the  woman  led  a  little  to  the  left,  leaving  a  col 
umn  between  her  path  and  the  paws  of  the  lion. 
The  huge  beast  seemed  pleased  with  this  slight 
94 


Awaiting  the  Resurrection  at  Karnak 

concession ;  and  only  noting  that  they  kept 
straight  on,  knowing  surely  that  there  was  but 
one  way  out  and  that  he  was  thrown  full  length 
in  the  only  path  of  exit,  he  awaited  results  with 
that  dignity  which  is  born  of  boundless  strength 
and  absolute  assurance.  He  could  afford  to  wait 
just  a  little. 

u  Yes,  here  is  faith  for  you ;  certainly  of 
immortality  on  earth.  Look !  Nimrod,  the 
mighty  hunter,  armed  and  ready  for  battle  with 
beasts  of  the  forest,  as  of  old  !  He  has  only 
been  resting  here  all  these  centuries,  ready  to  rise 
up  and  begin  life  again  just  as  he  left  off  when 
he  lay  down  to  die ;  as  we  all  shall." 

She  had  forgotten  the  lion  in  this  supreme 
moment  to  which  she  had  looked  forward  so  long, 
and,  possibly  at  times,  with  some  doubt.  But 
she  was  now  certain  that  Egypt  had  been  not 
only  the  mother  of  all  ancient  civilization,  but 
the  mother  of  Babylon's  founder  and  the  burial- 
place  of  her  mighty  dead  for  ages. 

Reverently  she  approached   the  foot  of   the 

lofty  throne  and   kneeled  on    the  polished  red 

granite  below,  where  reached  the  staff,  the  long 

beam  of  the  hunter's  spear,  still  clutched  in  his 

95 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

right  hand,  and  ready  for  use  when  he  should 
rise  again. 

How  long  they  meditated  there,  in  that  soft 
and  hallowed  light  and  holy  perfume  of  the  past, 
no  one  can  say.  There  are  times  that  despise 
time,  that  throw  time  away  as  a  drunken  spend 
thrift  throws  coins  away  ;  and  there  is  an  intoxi 
cation  of  the  soul  and  senses  at  times  like  this 
that  puts  the  intoxication  of  the  body,  even  from 
the  rarest  wines,  to  the  blush. 

Suddenly  there  was  a  low,  slow,  deep  rumble. 
It  seemed  as  if  the  cavern,  or  court  of  the  kingly 
dead,  began  to  rock,  and  roll,  and  shake  and 
tremble  ;  then  a  roar  ! 

It  rolled,  bounded,  echoed,  rebounded,  filled 
the  place  and  all  places,  all  the  passes,  got  lost, 
could  not  find  its  way  out,  came  back,  bounded 
from  wall  to  wall,  from  floor  to  ceiling,  and 
finally  went  back  and  moaned  and  died  in  that 
lion's  monstrous  jaws  and  tawny  mane. 

He  rose  up,  came  forward,  and  then,  as  if  he 
had  only  been  jesting  at  first  in  a  sort  of  sup 
pressed  whisper,  he  roared  again,  again  and  again. 

Five  steps  of  polished  red  granite  of  the 
throne  of  the  mighty  dead  with  spear  in  hand ; 
96 


Awaiting  the  Resurrection  at  Karnak 

but  they  made  it  at  a  single  bound,  she  to  the 
left  and  he  to  the  right. 

The  man  was  about  to  pluck  the  spear  from 
the  dark  and  dusty  hand  and  do  battle  for  the 
woman  he  deified ;  but  she  looked  him  in  the 
face  across  the  face  of  the  king,  and  he  bowed 
his  head  and  stepped  back  in  silence,  as  her  now 
burning  hand  reached  further  and  fell  familiarly 
on  the  outstretched  left  hand  of  the  mighty 
hunter  where  it  rested  on  the  arm  of  the  throne. 

Was  it  a  halo  about  her  head  ?  Was  it  divine 
fire  that  flamed  from  her  burning  hand  ?  Nay, 
no  questions.  They  cannot  be  answered  here. 
We  may  only  know  that  some  subtile  essence 
— fire  ?  magnetism  ?  electricity  ? — flowed  and 
swept  and  shot  from  her  hand,  from  her  body, 
to  his  body.  And  then  the  mighty  hunter  was 
on  his  feet.  As  the  lion  laid  his  long,  strong  paw 
on  the  third  step  of  the  throne,  with  his  tail 
whipped  back  in  the  air  and  his  two  terrible 
hinder  legs  bent  low  and  gathered  for  a  leap  at 
the  man's  throat,  the  spear  was  in  place  ;  face  to 
face  stood  the  lion  and  his  master,  once  more  and 
at  last  after  all  these  thousands  of  years  !  And 
the  lion  knew  his  master.  He  knew  him  only- 
7  97 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

from  tradition  ;  but  the  story  of  his  powers  had 
come  down  to  him  with  his  very  blood,  and  he 
knew  his  kingly  master  when  he  met  him,  even 
in  the  house  of  death. 

Sullenly,  slowly,  and  with  a  dignity  worthy 
the  occasion  and  the  two  mighty  kings,  the  lion 
dragged,  dragged,  as  if  he  had  to  drag  it  down 
by  force,  that  great  ponderous  paw.  It  literally 
tore  the  granite,  but  he  got  it  down.  He  got 
his  eyes  down  from  the  eyes  of  the  dead ;  and 
then  sidewise,  slowly,  gracefully,  grandly,  with 
long  and  stately  strides,  only  the  quivering  of  his 
flanks  telling  of  his  anger,  be  bowed  his  head 
and  left  the  court  and  crept  from  the  fearful  cav 
ern.  And  when  they  had  ceased  to  look  and 
listen  to  make  certain  he  was  surely  gone,  the 
dead  was  sitting  there  as  at  first. 


98 


X.—The  Voice  of  Toil 


COME,  lean  an  ear,  an  earnest  ear, 
To  Nature's  breast,  some  stilly  eve, 

And  you  shall  hear,  shall  surely  hear 
The  Carpenter,  and  shall  believe  j 

Shall  surely  hear,  shall  hear  for  aye,  who  will, 

The  patient  strokes  of  Christ  resounding  still. 

The  thud  of  loom,  the  hum  of  wheel, 

That  steady  stroke  of  Carpenter  ! 
And  was  this  all  ?      Did  God  reveal 

No  gleam  of  light  to  Him,  to  her  ? 
No  gleam  of  hopeful  light,  sweet  toiling  friend, 
Save  that  which  burneth  dimly  at  the  end. 

That  beggar  at  the  rich  man's  gate  ! 

That  rich  man  moaning  down  in  hell ! 
And  all  life's  pity,  all  life's  hate  ! 

Yea,  toil  lay  on  Him  like  a  spell. 
Stop  still  and  think  of  Christ,  of  Mary  there, 
Her  lifted  face  but  one  perpetual  prayer. 

I  can  but  hope  at  such  sore  time, 

When  all  her  soul  went  out  so  fond, 

She  touched  the  very  stars  sublime 

And  took  some  sense  of  worlds  beyond  ; 

And  took  some  strength  to  ever  toil  and  wait 

The  glories  bursting  through  God's  star-built  gate. 

And  He  so  silent,  patient,  sad, 

As  seeing  all  man's  sorrows  through  ! 

How  could  the  Christ  be  wholly  glad 
To  know  life's  pathos  as  He  knew, — 

To  know,  and  know  that  all  the  beauteous  years 

Man  still  will  waste  in  battle,  blood,  and  tears  ? 

99 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

Enough  of  antiquity,  of  dust,  and  of  the  dead ; 
enough  of  speculation,  enough  of  idleness.  Turn  we 
now  to  toil.  Enough,  and  more  than  enough  of  the 
old ;  turn  we  now  to  the  new, — to  follow  the  stroke 
of  the  Carpenter  s  Son,  the  sound  of  Mary's  loom, 
or  the  voice  of  the  dove  in  the  olive-trees. 

But  one  word  before  bidding  a  long  adieu  to  the 
old  world  and  this  strange,  strong  woman  of  the  old. 

I  do  not  say  or  even  suggest  that  she  was  the  rein 
carnation  of  that  Miriam  who  was  made  "  leprous 
white  "  because  of  her  anger  with  her  brother  when 
he  married  "  the  Ethiopian  woman."  I  know 
nothing  at  all  about  such  things.  But  I  am  per 
mitted  to  believe  that  our  business  is  with  this  world 
mainly,  and  with  the  things  of  this  world ;  that 
other  worlds  have  their  own,  and  are  and  ought  to 
be  concerned  mainly  with  their  own ;  that  it  is  a 
fact  and  a  very  practical  fact,  that  u  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  is  at  hand" 

Immortality  ?  Certain  of  it.  But  it  is  here. 
Individuality  in  the  next  life  ?  Certain  of  it,  if  a 
grain  and  not  a  husk.  As  no  atom  of  earth  perishes, 
so  shall  no  soul  perish  or  lose  its  personality.  The 
real  acorn,  the  real  grain  of  wheat  does  not  perish 
or  lose  its  identity  in  dust.  It  is  only  the  worthless 

100 


The  Voice  of  Toil 

grain  and  the  husk  and  shell  that  passes  back  to  the 
common  mould. 

So,  then,  if  you  want  immortality,  make  it.  If 
you  want  your  soul  saved,  make  it  worth  saving. 

These  thoughts,  bear  in  mind,  are  not  intruded 
upon  any  one,  and  are  but  timidly  and  feebly  let  fall 
here  as  "  the  still,  small  rain." 

A  LARGE  solemnity  like  twilight,  almost 
like  night,  had  settled  down  on  Miriam 
and  the  man  also,  on  their  return  to  the  vicinity 
of  Cairo.  He  knew  that  work  was  now  before 
him,  and  he  was  glad  of  .that.  But  would  she 
be  at  his  side  ?  No  toil  could  be  weary  where 
she  was.  There  could  be  no  rest,  no  light, 
no  life,  nothing  for  him,  save  his  love  for  her, 
where  she  was  not. 

He  tried  to  be  very  honest  with  himself,  with 
her.  But  think  it  over  as  he  might,  recall  each 
act  and  utterance,  yet  in  all  their  intercourse  he 
could  find  nothing  on  which  to  hang  a  hope  that 
she  would  be  with  him  to  the  end, — be  his  own. 
And  then  she  was  so  silent,  so  sadly  silent  of 
late,  all  the  time.  True,  she  was  not  strong, 
strong  of  body ;  for  as  her  soul  grew  strong  her 


1'he  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

body  grew  weak.  Even  little  threads  of  silver 
had  wound  themselves  through  her  heavy  meshes 
of  midnight  hair,  and  her  glorious  face  was  wan 
and  pallid  as  the  moonlight  in  which  they  sat  by 
the  deep-red  Nile  this  last  night  in  Egypt.  But 
he  loved  her  all  the  more  for  that.  The  more  ? 
— how  could  that  have  been  ?  Let  us  say,  with 
a  tenderness  that  was  new  and  holy. 

But  his  heart  was  bursting  for  some  sight, 
some  sound.  Would  she  let  him  go,  and  go  on 
alone,  with  no  assurance  that  she  would  follow 
and  follow  soon, — be  with  him  in  heart,  and  soul 
too,  all  the  time  ? 

He  would  put  the  matter  to  the  test  at  once. 
As  we  have  seen,  he  was  not  given  to  words  any 
more  than  was  she. 

"  You  know  I  love  you,  Miriam." 

"  I  know." 

"  And  you  ?  " 

Her  two  hands  lifted  up  and  pushed  back  the 
great  mass  of  black  hair  from  her  fine,  white 
face,  and  it  came  out  to  him  like  the  moon  of 
heaven,  and  with  her  face  turned  full  to  his  she 
said,  slowly,  softly,  and  so  very  sweetly  : 

"  I  love  you." 


The  Voice  of  Toil 

It   was   the   first   time   she    had    spoken   so. 

The  hands  remained  above  and  about  the  face, 
framing  it  like  a  face  of  the  Madonna. 

"  You,  you  will  be  mine  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

u  God  bless  you,  Miriam,  for  that  promise. 
But  you  know  I  go  now  to  begin  my  work  in 
the  New  World.  When  will  you  be  mine  ? 
Where  ?  At  what  time  ?  " 

"  Time  ?  "  Her  hands  fell  down  and  lay  so 
heavily  in  her  lap  he  dared  not  try  to  touch  them, 
and  she  said,  looking  away  beyond,  as  if  at  the 
ghost  of  Thebes  and  her  hundred  gates:  "Time? 
Not  in  time, — eternity." 

He  sprang  up  and  threw  his  arms"  tightly 
together  across  his  breast. 

u  And  this  is  your  resolution  ?  " 

"  Why,  dare  I  be  idly  happy  with  all  this 
misery  on  earth  before  me  ?  Think  of  that 
blind  woman  with  the  three  naked  children  yes 
terday  in  the  street ;  she  had  the  arms  and  the 
mummy-head  of  some  ancestor,  selling  them  for 
a  bit  of  bread,  here  in  fruitful  Egypt !  For  them, 
no  blame.  They  know  no  better.  You  and  I 
know  better.  '  For  unto  whomsoever  much  is 
103 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

given,  of  him  shall  be  much  required.'  The 
cross  and  the  crown  are  bound  together.  Let 
us  go  our  ways,  help  to  make  the  crooked 
straight,  and  then,  in  some  after  life — " 

Her  voice  was  inaudible  now.  Her  face  sank 
low  and  was  hidden  from  his  sight ;  but  he  saw 
hot  tears  falling  on  her  hand ;  and  she  was 
sacred  and  holy  to  him  as  if  a  halo  had  descended 
upon  her. 

Then  she  rose  up  slowly,  her  face  still  bent 
down,  and  giving  her  two  hands,  said : 

u  Go  ;  do  your  work,  do  good." 

"  And  you  ?  " 

"  I,  I  will  come  to  you — sometime ;  but  go, 
go  now." 

What  a  tower,  what  a  pillar  of  fire  was  that 
promise  :  "  I  will  come  to  you — sometime  ! 
Go,  go  now.  I  will  come  to  you — sometime. 
Good-bye !  " 

It  was  a  Nile  night.  To  those  who  have 
lived  by  the  Nile  nothing  more  need  be  said  to 
describe  the  sensuous  scene  and  air.  To  those 
who  have  not  dwelt  there  the  description  would 
be  as  idle  as  ungrateful.  There  were  palm-trees 
in  the  ancient  garden  by  which  the  lion-river 
104 


The  Voice  of  Toil 

crept  in  all  his  sinuous  and  supple  splendor. 
The  moon  made  little  paths  and  patches  and 
quivering  mosaics  of  silver  all  up  and  down  the 
sands  to  walk  upon. 

A  boat  with  a  single  oarsman  rocked  and 
rested  in  the  lotus  leaves  by  the  level  bank  above, 
and  at  the  end  of  the  garden  a  single  nude,  black 
boatman.  It  was  a  very  quiet  place.  No  boat 
had  landed  there  in  all  the  time  they  had  lived 
here. 

He  turned  away,  passed  down  the  garden  with 
slow  step,  empty-handed,  alone,  and  with  one 
word  "Good-bye"  on  his  lips.  They  could  not 
have  uttered  more  than  that  one  word.  His 
resolution  was  almost  failing  him,  for  his  heart 
was  breaking.  Then  suddenly  he  turned  about, 
flew  back  to  her,  threw  out  his  hands  and  cried : 
"Good-bye,  Miriam!" 

Mechanically  and  slowly  and  with  kindly  eyes 
and  half-parted  lips,  she  took  his  outstretched 
hands  in  silence.  He  pulled  her  to  him,  pulled 
her  violently,  pressed  her  to  his  heart  as  his  right 
hand  swept  swiftly  about  her  body,  pressed  his 
lips  to  her  proud  lips  as  she  struggled  and  as  her 
head  fell  back  in  her  effort  to  escape ;  and  then 
105 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

he  set  her  hastily  in  her  place  and  was  gone. 
Intensely,  triumphantly  beat  his  heart  as  he 
leaped  into  his  boat,  sped  away,  and  hastened  to 
embark  for  other  lands.  And  long,  long,  as  he 
voyaged  away,  he  tried  to  believe,  tried  to  hope, 
that  there  had  been  at  least  the  faintest  thrill  of 
response,  and  that  he  had  not  been  entirely  a 
savage. 


106 


XI. — The  Foundation  Stones 


BE  THOU  not  angered.      Go  thy  way 

From  God's  high  altar  to  the  low  j 
Nor  think  to  kneel  and  truly  pray, 

Till  thou  art  reconciled  and  know 
Thou  hast  forgiven  him  j  as  thou  must  be 
Forgiven  of  the  sins  that  burthen  thee. 

And  if  thine  eye  tempt  thee  to  shame 

Turn  thou  aside  j  pluck  it  away  ! 
And  with  thy  right  hand  deal  the  same, 

Nor  tempt  thy  soul  to  sin  this  day. 
Yea,  thou  art  very  weak.      Thou  couldst  not  make 
One  hair  turn  white  or  black,  for  thine  own  sake. 

And  whosoever  smite  thy  cheek, 

Turn  thou  that  he  may  smite  again. 
The  truly  brave  are  truly  meek, 

And  bravely  bear  both  shame  and  pain. 
They  slay,  if  truly  brave  men  ever  slay, 
Their  foes,  with  sweet  forgiveness,  day  by  day. 

And  if  a  man  would  take  thy  coat, 
Give  him  thy  cloak  and  count  it  meet. 

Bread  cast  on  waters  can  but  float 
In  sweet  forgiveness  to  thy  feet  j 

So  thou,  by  silent  act  like  this,  shalt  preach 

Such  sermons  as  not  flame  nor  sword  can  teach. 

Lay  not  up  treasures  for  yourselves 

On  earth,  and  stint  and  starve  the  soul 

By  heaping  granaries  and  shelves 

And  high  store-houses  ;  for  the  whole 

Of  wealth  is  this  :  to  grow  and  grow  and  grow 

In  faith  j  to  know  and  ever  seek  to  know. 
107 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

Therefore  give  not  too  much  of  thought 

For  thy  to-morrows.      Birds  that  call 
Sweet  melodies  sow  not,  reap  not, 

And  yet  the  Father  feedeth  all. 
Therefore  toil  trusting,  loving  ;  watch  and  pray, 
And  pray  in  secret  j  pray  not  long,  but  say  : 

Give  us  our  daily  bread  this  day, 

Forgive  our  sins  as  we  forgive, 
Lead  us  not  in  temptation's  way, 

Deliver  us,  that  we  may  live  ; 
For  thine  the  kingdom  is,  has  ever  been, 
And  thine  the  power,  glory,  and — Amen  ! 

ON  a  huge  mass  of  hills,  hills  heaped  and 
banked  and  tumbled  on  top  of  hills  by  the 
great  sea  of  seas,  and  above  the  Golden  Gate, 
the  man  at  last  pitched  his  tent  and  began  to 
build  his  city. 

Water  percolated  through  the  broken  rocks 
here  and  there  and  formed  little  pools,  where 
poor,  half-starved  cattle  and  sheep  had  gathered 
for  half  a  century  and  made  dismal  moan  for 
provender  as  they  trampled  the  rich,  black  mould 
into  unsightly  masses  of  mud. 

It  was  a  doleful,  grewsome  place  indeed,  if 
you  looked  near  about  you  or  down  into  the  mud. 
But  to  look  up  to  the  stars  !  To  look  down  to 
the  bay  of  San  Francisco  ;  look  out  through  the 
Golden  Gate  on  the  great  sea,  to  count  the 
108 


"The  Foundation  Stones 

moving  ships,  to  behold  the  fleets  of  snow-white 
clouds  that  drew  in  at  the  sunset  from  the  Japan 
seas,  to  feel  the  keen,  cool  winds  of  Alaska  in 
July  !  Ah,  it  was  a  glorious  place  if  you  could 
only  keep  your  face  toward  the  sea  or  up  toward 
heaven,  and  your  heart  on  your  duty  to  man. 

And  what  heaps  of  stone  ! — stones  from  the 
topmost  peak  of  his  hundred  acres  to  the  bottom 
limit  of  his  possessions  ;  stones  enough  for  the 
material  foundations  of  a  large  city  indeed  !  As 
for  its  moral  foundations,  no  city  ever  has  been 
built,  or  ever  can  be  built,  to  endure  with  any 
other  than  the  precepts  at  the  head  of  this  chap 
ter, — the  Sermon  on  the  Mount. 

Of  course  it  would  have  been  a  pleasant  thing 
if  this  man  could  have  chosen  a  rich  valley  by 
some  great  river,  where  commerce,  in  the  spirit 
of  the  age,  and  enterprising  people  with  quick 
discernment  of  advantage  would  come  his  way 
at  once.  It  would  be  pleasant  to  write  down  the 
peace  and  rest  and  swift  prosperity  that  would 
have  followed  such  a  choice  of  location.  But 
we  have  ugly  facts,  not  pleasant  fancy,  to  con 
front  and  deal  with  now. 

The  man  took  the  mountain-top,  and  at  the 
109 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

cost  of  all  he  had  saved  in  more  than  half  a  life 
time,  simply  because  a  place  in  the  valley  was 
not  to  be  had  for  what  he  had  to  give. 

"All  the  better,"  he  said.  "  If  I  succeed  on 
these  steeps  and  heaps  of  stone,  the  greater  good 
and  the  braver  will  be  my  lesson  to  the  world. 
The  main  thing  is  to  teach  and  to  prove  that  all 
men  are  good  or  trying  to  be  good ;  and  that  all 
the  world  and  all  things  in  it  are  beautiful  or  try 
ing  to  be  beautiful.  I  shall  plant  roses  here 
where  I  find  thorns,  trees  where  I  find  thistles ; 
and  if  I  can  make  this  most  barren  and  most 
unsightly  of  all  places  on  earth  beautiful,  my 
example  will  not  be  lost."  And  his  heart  was 
all  the  time  with  Her,  and  all  the  time  he  kept 
saying  over  and  over  her  last  words  :  "  I  will 
come  to  you — sometime." 

His  heap  of  steep  hills  sloped  to  the  sun  and 
the  sea ;  but  back  in  the  rear  a  deep  and  wooded 
and  watered  canyon  bent  like  a  scimitar  and  shut 
out  all  the  world  behind  him.  It  was  a  wild  and 
a  glorious  place ;  wolves,  catamounts,  hosts  of 
wild  creatures  housed  there,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
birds  that  sang  and  reared  their  pretty  broods  in 
the  redwood  groves  and  groves  of  madrona, 


The  Foundation  Stones 

willow,  and  bay-trees.  But  he  built  his  little 
house  out  in  the  sun  with  the  Golden  Gate  in 
sight,  and  here  he  began  to  plant  trees,  and  to 
plant  and  to  plant  and  to  plant.  He  would  first 
make  it  attractive,  and  then  invite  thinkers,  poets, 
men  of  mind  who  had  a  mind  to  rest,  to  come 
and  sit  down  and  share  it  with  him;  then  the 
world  would  see  and  learn  and  live.  Then  She 
would  come  !  And  why  did  he  begin  and  toil 
on  so  entirely  alone  ?  He  did  not  begin  alone ; 
or  did  not  propose  to  do  that  at  first. 

He  had  found,  after  much  care,  a  small  party 
of  men  with  purposes  not  unlike  his  own.  But 
when  it  came  to  the  toil,  the  privations,  the 
weary  prospect  of  long  waiting  for  roads  to  be 
built,  for  trees  to  grow  up  and  bear  fruit,  for  the 
world  to  come  that  way  and  admire  and  praise, 
they  melted  away,  one  after  one,  and  went  down 
to  the  city  by  the  sea  and  left  him  all  alone.  It 
would  be  tedious,  even  if  it  would  be  credible, 
to  tell  how  terribly  hard  he  toiled.  But  there 
was  fierce  excitement  in  closing  in  and  making 
clean  the  muddy  springs  of  water,  in  training 
the  pure,  trickling  streams  down  the  tortuous 
new  roadside  where  roses  were  newly  set  by  the 


'The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

newly  built  wall.  To  see  the  response  of  the 
roses !  real  gratitude  indeed !  And  then  the 
down-trodden  grass — how  glad  it  was  to  lift  up 
its  head  after  forty  years  ! 

But  then  at  last  he  must  have  help.  He  could 
earn  money  in  various  little  ways,  and  would 
employ  some  one  to  help  him  in  his  persistent 
toil.  But  whom  ? 

When  we  employ  a  man  we  must  not  think 
entirely  of  ourselves.  We  must  think  of  his 
good  as  well  as  our  own.  He  needs  this  con 
sideration. 

From  far  across  San  Pablo  bay,  the  lights  from 
the  watch-towers  of  the  penitentiary  shot  sharp 
and  continuously  in  at  the  door  of  our  silent  city- 
builder.  This.vexed  him  sorely  at  first.*  It  made 
him  miserable  to  think  of  the  misery  there  when 
he  so  needed  rest. 

But  at  last  his  soul  ascended  to  the  duty  before 
it.  He  went  to  the  prison  warden  and  engaged 
that  each  month  he  should  send  him  the  first 
discharged  convict  who  desired  work.  The  first 
to  come  was  a  poor  drunkard.  It  was  not  quite 
an  ideal  life,  this  sleeping  in  the  same  little  cot 
tage  with  an  illiterate  drunkard.  True,  the  poor, 


"The  Foundation  Stones 

sullen  inebriate  did  not  know  that  his  history  was 
known  to  the  city-builder,  but  still  he  was  ugly 
and  cross.  He  did  not  like  the  place ;  and  so 
he  soon  disappeared,  taking  what  he  could  lay 
hands  on. 

The  next  was  a  bright  young  man  who  had 
been  a  book-keeper,  and  stolen  money  from  his 
employer. 

Thinking  his  history  unknown,  he  frankly  told 
it  the  first  night.  They  became  friends.  When 
he  drew  his  first  wages  he  went  down  into  the 
city,  into  the  sea,  as  it  were,  and  was  drowned, 
— drowned  first  in  alcohol  and  then  found  dead 
in  the  bay. 

The  third  was  a  witless  man  and  an  honest 
man,  who  insisted  on  telling  his  story,  hat  in 
hand,  before  he  would  sit  down.  He  had  been 
convicted  of  stealing  cattle,  and  did  not  assert 
his  innocence  till  he  stood  with  his  month's 
wages  in  his  hand  to  set  out  for  the  gold  mines 
of  Alaska. 

Taken  altogether,  these  experiments  were  in- 
no  way  fruitless  nor  discouraging.  Now  and 
again  he  wrought  entirely  alone.  And  as  he 
toiled,  he  took  the  three  convicts  and  their  con- 

8  113 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

duct  under  the  closest  consideration.  And  the 
prayer  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  one  prayer,  as  taught 
him  by  that  clear-eyed  woman  from  the  gates 
of  Jerusalem,  kept  in  his  mind  and  before  him 
always  :  "  Lead  us  not  into  temptation  !  Lead 
us  not  into  temptation  !  Lead  us  not  into 
temptation  !  " 

He  had  tempted  the  first  unhappy  convict  to 
fall.  The  poor,  weak-minded,  and  sullen  man 
could  not  resist  the  temptation  to  take  the  man's 
horse  and  ride  away  in  the  night.  He  was,  then, 
himself  the  guilty  man. 

As  for  the  second  man,  he,  too,  had  been 
tempted, — tempted  even  to  his  death  by  Society 
and  the  State. 

As  for  the  third  man,  no  better  man  could 
have  been  found. 

By  this  time  vultures  began  to  gather  around 
and  sit  on  the  rocks.  They  said  :  "  This  man 
with  his  non-resistance  and  turn-the-other-cheek 
must  fail,  die ;  and  some  one  must  pick  his 
bones." 

This  was  an  ugly  fact,  but  who  was  to  blame  ? 
"  Be  ye  wise  as  serpents,  but  as  harmless  as 

doves." 

114 


The  Foundation  Stones 

Would  a  really  wise  man  have  come  forward 
and  publicly  and  continuously  declared,  in  the 
midst  of  a  people  who  were  devoted  entirely  to 
money-getting,  that  he  would  give  to  the  man 
who  took  his  coat,  his  cloak  also  ? 

He  was  tempting  some  weak  men  beyond  their 
power  to  resist.  He  was  literally  calling  out  to 
the  vultures  to  come  from  the  four  parts  of  the 
world  and  wait  on  the  rocks  and  crags  for  him 
to  die,  when  they  should  gorge  on  his  remains. 

People  came  and  went  as  the  years  went  by, 
— some  queer  people,  some  curious  people,  and 
some  good  people ;  or  rather  some  people  who 
had  had  better  fortune,  better  opportunities  to  be 
good  than  those  who  are  called  bad. 

"  Now,  look  here  !  "  said  an  honest  and  ob 
serving  man  one  day  to  the  city-builder,  digging 
on  his  hill,  "  all  this  that  you  are  trying  to  do  has 
been  done  before,  or  at  least  attempted.  You 
are,  perhaps,  a  good  man,  a  very  good  man ; 
but  you  are  not  the  only  good  man  that  has  been. 
You  may  build  and  build,  but  the  sea  of  selfish 
ness  will  roll  over  your  city  and  all  your  enter 
prises  here  when  you  die,  before  you  can  be 
carried  to  the  grave." 

"5 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

This  had  been  said  in  answer  to  his  complaints 
about  the  vultures  that  continually  hovered 
around.  He  had,  in  his  distress,  cried  out  to 
this  good  man,  and  said  : 

uln  the  olden  time  the  ravens  fed  the  prophets; 
but  now  it  seems  to  me  that  the  prophets  must 
feed  not  only  the  ravens,  but  the  vultures  also." 

And  it  must  be  conceded  that  he  had  the 
most  substantial  reasons  for  complaining. 

For  example  :  A  stout  German,  whose  lands 
shut  him  out  from  the  city,  nailed  up  his  road, 
and  demanded  an  acre  of  land  for  the  right  of 
way.  The  man  gave  him  a  deed  for  three  acres. 
But  this  is  only  one  example  of  his  folly  and  the 
persistence  of  the  vultures,  and  we  hasten  on. 

And  yet  these  people  on  this  mountain-side 
were  in  some  sense  better  than  those  in  the 
valley  below,  and  those  in  the  valley  below  were 
better  than  those  in  the  city  beyond. 

How  pitiful,  how  piteously  pitiful  it  all  is,  as 
things  now  are  !  This  man,  worn  out  at  last, 
bodily  and  mentally,  sat  down  and  tried  to  see 
light  beyond.  There  was  no  light  to  be  seen. 
He  saw  that  he  would  ultimately  be  ground  to 
dust  between  the  hard  and  selfish  elements  that 
116 


The  Foundation  Stones 

environed  him.  He  might  carry  his  experiments 
forward  to  the  end  of  his  own  natural  life ;  he 
might  not  be  crucified  before  his  time  to  die; 
yet  he  foresaw  clearly  that  his  very  dust  and 
ashes  would  be  divided  among  those  about  him 
at  his  death,  and  all  his  hopes  and  plans  and  per 
sistent  toil  of  body  and  mind  would  be  as  if  he 
had  never  been. 

He  began  to  search  the  book  of  Nature  for 
some  possible  solution  of  the  hard  problem 
before  him ;  and  he  began  to  see  that  Nature 
had  in  some  way  or  other  protected  whatever  she 
wished  to  perpetuate.  Even  the  timid  rabbit, 
that  sat  with  wide  eyes  and  large  ears  under  the 
trees  which  he  had  planted  on  his  hillsides,  was 
not  neglected.  His  coat  turned  gray  each  sea 
son  as  the  grass  turned  gray  ;  and  when  the  win 
ter  approached,  with  a  sprinkle  of  snow  on  the 
hillside,  the  keen-eyed  hawk  that  looked  down 
out  of  the  snow-cloud  above  saw  that  the  rabbit 
had  a  new  coat  as  white  as  the  snows  about  him, 
and  that  it  required  the  keenest  of  keen  eyes  to 
distinguish  him  from  the  tufts  of  grass  and  snow. 

"  Yet  I,"  said  the  man  to  himself,  "  with  all 
the  lessons  of  Nature  before  me,  have  dared  to 
117 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

lay  my  breast  bare  to  all  men ;  and  they  have 
pierced  me  through  and  through." 

One  day  a  small  man,  with  a  gray  beard, 
came  up  the  hill  meekly  washing  his  hands,  and 
in  a  mild  and  sympathetic  voice  said  : 

"  You  seem  discouraged.  Let  me  assist  you. 
I  have  watched  you  and  your  work  with  the 
deepest  interest,  and  now  that  you  seem  so  weary 
I  have  come  to  save  you.  Yes,  I  am  a  real- 
estate  agent.  There  are  too  many  real-estate 
agents  in  the  town, — three  hundred  of  them. 
There  are  nearly  two  hundred  lawyers  ;  there  are 
more  than  fifty  preachers  ;  there  are  twice  as 
many  doctors, — all  living  on  a  small  city.  But 
I  have  come  to  save  you.  I  will  sell  some  of 
your  land.  This  will  give  you  money  to  go 
ahead.  I  have  your  permission  ?  " 

The  small,  gray  man  had  not  paused  for  an 
answer,  nor  did  he  wait  for  a  single  word,  but 
again  washing  his  hands  and  smiling  again  his 
sickly  smile,  and  still  talking  on  in  a  soft  and 
sympathetic  tone,  he  crept  backward,  and  crawled 
like  a  serpent  down  the  hill  to  sell  the  land. 

Now,  there  is  nothing  in  this  incident  worth 
telling.  The  only  excuse  for  it  is  the  ugly  truth 
118 


The  Foundation  Stones 

that  these  idle,  cunning  men,  made  desperate  by 
competition,  are  crowding  every  city,  and  plying 
their  trade  to  the  very  verge  of  crime, — most 
miserable  themselves  and  making  others  miser 
able.  What  a  jar  of  Egyptian  vipers  is  the  heart 
and  soul  of  a  city  to-day  ! 


119 


XII.— -The  First  Law  of  God 

LOOK  back,  beyond  the  Syrian  sand, 

Beyond  the  awful  flames  that  burst 
O'er  Sinai !     The  first  command 

Outside  the  gates,  God's  very  first, 
Was  this  :   "  Thou  shalt  in  sweat  and  patient  toil 
Eat  bread  till  thou  returnest  to  the  soil." 

"\7~OU  have  a  rough  place  here,  it  seems  to 
A  me,"  said  a  man  with  bag  and  gun  and 
dog  as  he  came  around  a  crag  up  out  of  the  can 
yon  one  evening.  There  was  a  tone  of  derision 
in  the  voice  of  the  hunter.  He  was  from  the 
city,  and  seemed  to  think  the  man  who  was  trying 
to  plant  a  little  olive-tree  in  a  cleft  of  the  crag 
ought  to  not  only  let  him  have  the  shooting  of 
the  birds,  but  a  better  road  to  flush  them  from. 
Our  city-builder  was  weary,  and  for  a  moment 
was  angry.  But  lifting  his  face  from  his  work 
he  laid  the  little  olive  down,  and  slowly  straight 
ening  his  back  he  looked  the  man  in  the  face,  and 
then  looked  about  and  above,  and  then  said  quiet 
ly  as  he  did  so,  "Yes,  yes,  it  is  rather  rough 
under  foot ;  but  it  is  as  smooth  overhead  as  any 
man's  land." 


The  First  Law  of  God 

The  hunter  whistled  to  his  dog,  and  left  the 
man  with  the  little  olive-tree  alone  in  his  clouds. 
For  he  did  not  understand  ;^and  we  are  always 
afraid  of  that  which  we  do  not  understand.J 

The  lonely  man  on  the  peak  kept  on  planting 
his  olive-trees  in  the  clouds.  He  thought  of 
the  dove  bringing  an  olive-branch  in  its  beak, 
"  plucked  off,"  and  reflected  that  the  ancients 
must  have  planted  their  loftiest  peaks  in  olive- 
trees  and  made  them  flourish,  and  so  took  heart 
a  little.  He  finished  planting  his  tree,  and  being 
very  weary  and  very  lonely  he  lay  down  by  his 
mattock,  with  his  face  to  the  glorious  Balboa 
seas  below,  and  thought  of  Jacob  on  the  plains 
of  Shinar  as  he  pillowed  his  head  on  a  stone  and 
slept  and  dreamed. 

Lo  !  on  the  plains  of  Bethel  lay 

An  outworn  lad,  unhoused,  alone, 
His  couch  the  tawny  mother  clay, 

His  pillow  that  storm-haunted  stone  ; 
The  hollow  winds  howled  down  the  star-lit  plain, 
All  white  and  wild  with  highborn  wintry  rain. 

Yet  here  God's  ladder  was  let  down, 

Yea,  only  here  for  aye  and  aye  ! 
Not  in  the  high-walled,  splendid  town, 

Not  to  the  throned  king  feasting  high, 
But  far  afield  beneath  the  Syrian  stars 
God's  ladder  fell  from  out  the  golden  bars. 

121 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

And  ever  thus.      Take  heart !   to  some 

The  hand  of  Fortune  pours  her  horn 
Of  plenty,  smiling  where  they  come  ; 

And  some  to  fcme  and  some  to  wealth  are  born, 
And  some  are  born  to  pomp  and  splendid  ease  5 
But  lo  !   God's  shining  ladder  leans  to  none  of  these. 

The  German  neighbor  on  the  hillside  below 
saw  the  weary  dreamer  through  the  rift  of  clouds 
that  came  driving  in  from  the  sea  with  the  stars, 
and  kindly  came  up  the  peak  and  awoke  him. 

"  It  von't  pay  you  to  plant  olive-trees  here. 
Vy  you  do  dees  ?  " 

"  To  make  my  little  portion  of  the  world  more 
beautiful." 

"  Boh  !  I  do  n't  believe  in  beauty  ;  dot  do'  n't 
pay." 

"  Then  you  do  not  believe  in  God  ?  " 

"  Veil,  not  in  dot  sort  of  a  God,  nohow." 

This  German  had  been  amazed  at  the  man's 
deeding  him  so  much  more  land  than  he  had 
demanded.  He  thought  it  was  a  mistake  at 
first ;  and  so  for  months  had  said  nothing.  But 
at  last  he  could  conceal  his  curiosity  no  longer. 
Leaning  over  the  shoulder  of  the  man  from 
whom  he  had  received  it,  one  Sunday  as  he  sat 
reading,  he  said  : 

"  My  lawyer,  he  say  when  a  deed  is  recorded 


The  First  Law  of  God 

it  is  done  mit,  and  no  one  can  change  it.  So 
dot  matter  he  is  settled  mit.  You  owe  me 
netting,  and  I  owe  you  netting.  But  tell  me 
vy  you  make  it  t'ree  for  one." 

Slowly  the  man  opened  the  Book  at  the  Ser 
mon  on  the  Mount  and  quietly  proceeded  to 
read.  He  paused  a  moment  when  he  came  to 
the  thirty-first  verse ;  then  he  read  in  a  slow, 
low,  and  kindly  voice,  and  closing  the  book, 
he  looked  his  neighbor  calmly  in  the  face  and 
repeated :  "And  if  a  man  will  sue  thee  at 
law  and  take  away  thy  coat,  let  him  have 
thy  cloak  also." 

Now  this  big,  hearty  German  was  not  a  bad 
man  ;  he  was,  in  fact,  far  from  a  bad  man  as  the 
world  goes.  But  this  strange,  new  man  had 
tempted  him,  and  the  end  was  not  yet. 

Meantime  the  people  for  his  city,  to  people 
his  city,  did  not  come,  save  to  look  on  curiously 
and  go  away.  The  City  Beautiful  was  building 
slowly  indeed. 

At  last  one  man  with  much  money  came  and 
proposed  to  build  and  abide,  with  all  his  house 
hold. 

"And  you  are  certain  it  will  pay  me  ? " 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

"  Perfectly  certain  that  it  will  pay  you  im 
mensely,  sir." 

"  Well,  if  you  are  so  certain  I  can  make 
money — " 

"  Stop  !  Who  said  money  ?  I  said  it  will  pay 
you.  But  to  make  money  here  on  these  rocks  ! 
Why,  you  might  as  well  try  to  plant  God's 
altar  in  corn,  or  to  grow  wheat  on  the  pinnacle 
of  Saint  Paul's  cross,  as  to  make  money  on  these 
glorious  heights.  No ;  you  would  be  paid,  but 
you  would  take  your  pay  from  the  heaped-up 
gold  of  the  golden  sunsets  of  the  Golden  Gate ; 
from  the  silver  banks  of  clouds  beyond;  from 
the  certificates  of  perfect  health  from  the  far-off 
Japan  seas  ;  from  the  satisfaction  of  having  built 
or  helped  to  build  one,  just  one,  City  of  Refuge, 
where  the  Jews  had  so  many.  From  these  and 
the  like  of  these  you  would  be  paid  ten-thousand 
fold,  my  friend,  but  you  would  make  no  money." 

"  Well,  I  will  think  it  over,  and  I  may  come 
back." 

He  did   not   come  back ;  and   so  the  world 

kept  on  going  by  the  other  way.     True,  crowds 

came    oftentimes, — carriages  and  carriages,  on 

Sundays ;  for  the  drives  were  good,  the  air  deli- 

124 


The  First  Law  of  God 

cious,  the  spectacle  of  the  seas  and  cities  below 
divinely  glorious.  But  with  the  exception  of  a 
painter,  a  poet,  a  traveler  who  came  to  rest  for 
a  few  days,  the  City  Beautiful  continued  to  be 
uninhabited. 

Finally  a  friend  in  Japan  sent  two  little  Japa 
nese  gentlemen  from  Tokio,  to  serve  him,  to  be 
his  companions,  to  hear  his  philosophy,  to  learn 
his  interpretation  of  the  story  and  teachings  of 
Christ.  And  this  was  good  !  "  At  last,  at  last !" 
said  the  hermit. 

On  the  third  day  after  they  came  a  big  Irish 
man  and  his  followers  came  to  the  hermit's  cot 
tage. 

"  We  are  a  committee,"  said  the  leader,  "  for 
the  protection  of  white  labor.  You  are  a  labor 
ing  man,  and  of  course  will  stand  by  white  labor. 
The  Japs  must  go,  or  they  will  get  the  worst  of 

*•" 

The  man  tried  to  protest,  but  all  his  protesta 
tions  were  of  no  avail.  The  foreigners  said 
their  children  would  stone  the  Japanese  as  they 
went  up  and  down  the  road  if  they  did  not  leave. 
The  man  told  his  two  little  strangers  all,  and 
they  quietly  and  with  scarcely  a  word  gathered 
,  1*5 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

up   their  books,  bowed  their  heads   sadly,  and 
were  gone. 

And  so  ended  the  only  little  ray  of  sunlight 
that  had  broken  through  the  clouds  for  a  long, 
long  time.  They  had  been  so  humble,  so  will 
ing  to  learn,  so  ready  to  help,  so  patient,  so  filled 
with  that  dignity  which  is  the  only  humility,  and 
that  humility  which  is  the  only  perfect  dignity, 
that  he  had  learned  to  love  them  truly  and  deeply. 
They  had  had  that  spirit  of  meekness  in  them 
that  could  wash  a  brother's  feet  and  yet  not  seem 
foolish.  And  when  they  went  away  he  bowed 
his  head  in  his  hands  at  the  table  and  was  well- 
nigh  broken-hearted. 

But  he  took  up  the  Book  after  a  time  and 
read  once  more  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount. 
Then  he  read  it  again.  He  closed  the  lids  a 
little  bit  savagely  after  this  last  reading.  He 
spent  the  next  few  days  in  the  canyon,  cutting 
out  the  poison-oak, — a  task  which  none  other 
had  ever  been  willing  to  perform. 

How  weary  in  spirit  he  was  !   and  She  had  not 
kept  her  promise  to  come.      How  sore  at  heart, 
how  sick  of  it  all !      He  had  grown  gray  here  in 
a  little  time.     The  end  was  not  far  off. 
126 


The  First  Law  of  God 

"Ah,  if  I  could  only  take  this  deep,  cool  can 
yon,  with  its  pleasant  waters  and  its  profound 
woods,  and  go  to  some  far-away  place  !  But 
no  j  that  would  be  turning  my  back  on  the  bat 
tle  to  which  God  has  set  my  face.  I  shall  fight 
it  out  here.  Happily,  it  will  not  be  long  now ; 
whatever  comes,  I  shall  not  run  away." 

The  next  day  was  Sunday.  The  big  Ger 
man  came,  came  alone,  with  his  coat  thrown 
leisurely  over  his  arm.  The  hermit  was  at 
his  little  desk  in  his  study,  as  was  his  habit 
on  this  day. 

"Ah,  Japs  gone,  eh?  Dot's  right;  plenty 
of  good  German  girls  to  be  had,  an'  dem  lots 
better  nor  Japs.  But  I  vant  to  see  you  about 
you  cut  down  dem  shade  from  der  vater  in 
der  canyon.  Of  course  it  is  on  your  own 
ground ;  but  you  see  der  vater  runs  down  by 
me.  I  vant  der  vater  kept  cool  for  my  ducks 
and  pigs  and  chickens.  Now,  if  you  cut  down 
der  bushes,  dot  lets  in  der  sun,  dot  makes  der 
vater  varm.  My  lawyer,  he  say  if  you  do  dot 
you  must  pay  me." 

"  How  much  pay  do  you  want  ?  " 

"Veil,  I  vill  not  be  hard.     Ve  can  agree,  I 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

t'ink.  Can  you  pay  me  a  little  now  ?  Dot 
will  bind  der  bargain,  my  lawyer  say." 

"  Come  over  into  the  canyon,  and  I  will  pay 
you  there." 

"  Good,  good  !  ve  vill  get  on.  I  have  always 
tried  to  help  you,  as  you  vos  a  new  settler  j 
and  now  you  are  going  to  oblige  me." 

The  man  had  snatched  his  overcoat  from  the 
wall,  and  was  walking  fast;  the  German  ran 
along  at  his  side. 

The  road  was  a  road  of  roses ;  but  the  man 
walked  too  fast  to  heed  the  roses,  or  even  hear 
the  many  friendly  speeches  which  the  garrulous 
German  was  making  from  time  to  time,  as  he 
came  puffing  on  after  him. 

There  was  a  big  heap  of  stones  on  the  high 
summit  just  before  descending  the  steep  path 
into  the  canyon.  The  sun  was  warm,  hot. 
He  threw  his  heavy  coat  against  the  high  mound 
of  stones  under  the  olive-tree  he  had  planted, 
and  hastened  on,  the  German  at  his  heels. 


128 


XIII.— Fallen  by  the  Way 


*'  How  SHALL  man  surely  save  his  soul  ?  " 
'T  was  sunset  by  the  Jordan.      Gates 
Of  light  were  closing,  and  the  whole 

Vast  heaven  hung  darkened  as  the  fates. 

"  How  shall  man  surely  save  his  soul  ";  he  said, 

As  fell  the  kingly  day,  discrowned  and  dead. 

The  Christ  said  :   "Hear  this  parable. 

Two  men  set  forth  and  journeyed  fast 
To  reach  a  place  ere  darkness  fell 

And  closed  the  gates  ere  they  had  passed ; 
Two  worthy  men,  each  free  alike  of  sin, 
But  one  did  seek  most  sure  to  enter  in. 

*'  And  so  when  in  their  path  did  lay 

A  cripple  with  a  broken  staff, 
The  one  did  pass  straight  on  his  way, 

While  one  did  stoop  and  give  the  half 
His  strength,  and  all  his  time  did  nobly  share 
Till  they  at  sunset  saw  their  city  fair. 

*'  And  he  who  would  make  sure  ran  fast 

To  reach  the  golden  sunset  gate, 
Where  captains  and  proud  chariots  passed, 

But  lo,  he  came  one  moment  late  ! 
The  gate  was  closed,  and  all  night  long  he  cried  j 
He  cried  and  cried,  but  never  watch  replied. 

"  Meanwhile,  the  man  who  cared  to  save 

Another  as  he  would  be  saved 
Came  slowly  on,  gave  bread  and  gave 

Cool  waters,  and  he  stooped  and  laved 
The  wounds.      At  last,  bent  double  with  his  weight, 
He  passed,  unchid,  the  porter's  private  gate. 
129 


'The  'Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

"  Hear  then  this  lesson,  hear  and  learn  : 

He  who  would  save  his  soul,  I  say, 
Must  lose  his  soul ;  must  dare  to  turn 

And  lift  the  fallen  by  the  way  ; 
Must  make  his  soul  worth  saving  by  some  deed 

That  grows,  and  grows,  as  grows  to  fruitful  seed." 

A 5  SAID  before,  the  silent  man  with  set  lips 
cast  aside  the  coat  on  his  arm  as  he 
reached  the  rocky  summit  where  he  had  planted 
the  olive-tree.  It  had  flourished  wonderfully. 
As  he  hastily  threw  the  coat  beneath  its  beauti 
ful  green  and  gray  and  dove-colored  branches 
and  hurried  on  down  over  the  high,  steep  brow 
of  the  hill  he  did  not  see  the  symbol  of  peace  at 
all.  His  eyes  were  blinded  with  rage.  He  led 
on  and  on  down  the  steep  and  wooded  road  to 
the  very  bed  of  the  canyon. 

The  robust  German  followed  close  at  his 
heels.  His  mind  was  full  of  speculation  and 
expectation.  He  had  become  convinced  that 
his  neighbor,  the  dreamer,  was  entirely  helpless  ; 
that  his  lands  were  surely  slipping  from  his  tired 
hands ;  that  they  must  fall  into  the  hands  of 
some  one,  and  why  not  as  well  into  his  hands  as 
those  of  another  ? 

"  Yes,  down  here  in  the  deep  canyon  he  will 
make  some  concessions  for  the  sake  of  peace,  as 
130 


Fallen  by  the  Way 

he  always  does,  and  as  there  will  be  no  witness  I 
can  fix  it  up  to  suit  myself.  And  he,  of  course, 
will  consent  to  whatever  I  say,  for  the  sake  of 
peace.  Let  me  see,  I  must  have  a  little  money 
to  bind  the  bargain ;  a  little  spot  cash,  if  only 
one  dollar,  to  bind  the  bargain,  my  lawyer 
say — "  Thus,  in  plain  English,  ran  his  thought. 

The  big  man's  calculations  were  suddenly 
interrupted.  They  had  reached  the  dense  red 
wood  grove  at  the  bottom  of  the  canyon,  when 
the  dreamer  wheeled  sharply  about.  His  back 
was  to  the  largest  of  the  stately  redwood-trees ; 
and  his  face  only  a  few  feet  from  that  of  his 
robust  neighbor. 

The  peaceful  brook  purled  and  rattled  along 
in  its  bed  of  rocks  and  pebbles,  birds  sang 
pleasantly  from  the  further  hillside  in  the 
sun,  but  all  else  was  silent.  The  place  was 
as  secure  from  intrusion  as  a  country  church 
yard. 

The  man  drew  in  his  breath  sharp  and  quick 
and  said  hastily,  between  his  teeth  : 

"  You  are  well  to-day  ?  " 

"  Yes,  yes,  never  so  veil ;    but  I  vos  varm. 
I  puts  on  my  coat,  so  I  not  take  cold." 
131 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

"  No  !  you  will  not  take  cold.  You  will  not 
have  time  to  take  cold  !  " 

u  Vy,  vat  do  you  mean  ?  " 

"  What  do  I  mean  ?  I  told  you  I  would  pay 
you,  settle  with  you,  here  in  the  canyon,  and  I 
intend  to  keep  my  word.  Hear  me !  Jesus 
said  '  Turn  the  other  cheek/  Well,  I  turned  the 
other  cheek,  you  smote  that  also.  And  now  I 
am  going  to  smite  you.  I  am  going  to  smite 
you,  hip  and  thigh,  from  Dan  to  Beersheba  !  " 

The  German  was  not  dull ;  neither  was  he 
a  coward.  He  saw  that  there  was  battle  in  the 
eye  of  his  outraged  neighbor,  and  in  a  second  he 
threw  his  coat  aside  and  prepared  to  meet  it  like 
a  man. 

With  right  foot  forward  and  his  big,  red  fists 
in  rest,  he  awaited  the  onset.  But  his  neighbor 
was  not  now  in  such  great  haste.  There  was  a 
pause,  and  the  German,  who  really  knew  him 
self  all  along  to  have  been  terribly  in  the  wrong, 
took  quick  occasion  to  say,  "  Is  dees  your  Ser 
mon  on  de  Mount  ?  " 

"  Yes,  yes,  it  is.  For  I  have  read  it  over  and 
over  since  I  read  it  to  you,  and  I  find  it  is  writ 
ten  there  that  you  shall  not  give  that  which  is 
132 


Fallen  by  the  Way 

holy  unto  dogs,  nor  cast  pearls  before  swine." 
It  was  too  much,  that  peculiarly  personal 
accent  given  the  allusion  to  the  low  creatures 
named  ;  and  the  German,  suddenly  blinded  with 
rage,  struck  out  terribly  with  his  big,  red,  right 
fist. 

He  was  a  huge  man,  nearly  twice  the  weight 
of  his  neighbor,  and  not  so  old.  But  he  had  not 
spent  the  past  five  years  in  wrestling  with  the 
elements  on  a  mountain  side.  His  had  been  a 
sedentary  life  in  the  city ;  and  so  his  first  blow, 
which  spent  its  force  above  the  mark,  as  he 
stood  on  ground  higher  than  that  of  his  sinewy 
opponent,  was  his  last.  But  he  forced  the  fight 
ing  like  a  good  German  soldier  as  he  was,  and 
bore  down  heavily  on  the  man,  who  stood  with 
his  back  to  the  tree,  and  at  last,  by  sheer  weight 
and  force,  he  bore  him  to  the  ground. 

But,  as  in  the  story  of  old,  the  earth  came  to 
the  rescue.  The  dear  old  mother  earth,  whom 
he  had  loved  and  on  whose  bosom  he  had  rested, 
or  wrought  in  forms  of  beauty  for  years  past, 
came  to  his  help  as  she  came  to  the  help  of  the 
shepherd  king  of  old.  He  sprang  to  his  feet 
with  renewed  life.  The  German  again  stood 
133 


"The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

before  him,  formidable  indeed  to  look  upon,  but 
almost  breathless. 

Thud  !  thump  !  thud  !  The  first  landed  with 
terrific  force  on  the  big  man's  big  throat.  His 
head  was  thrown  back  by  the  blow,  and  before 
he  could  recover  the  first  was  followed  by  the 
second,  and  the  second  by  the  third  on  the  same 
unguarded  column. 

The  big,  red  fists  fell  to  the  big  man's  side. 
The  big  mouth  opened  and  the  big  man  gasped 
helplessly,  but  could  not  even  find  breath  to  cry 
out  for  mercy.  The  battle  was  over. 

"  Come,  now,  and  be  washed ;  then  go  and  tell 
your  Dutch  and  Irish  friends  that  it  was  poison- 
oak.  What!  Do  you  want  more?  Come!  and 
be  decent  about  it,  or  I  '11  thresh  you  till  you  do." 

The  big  man  had  held  back  as  disdaining  to 
accept  help  from  his  enemy ;  but  the  other  man 
would  not  be  trifled  with  now, — the  rage  of  bat 
tle  was  on  him  ;  and  so,  accepting  the  outreach- 
ing  hand  of  help,  he  suffered  himself  to  be  led 
down  to  the  pretty  little  brook,  over  which  he 
bowed  his  big  head,  gasping  and  gasping  for 
breath,  and  was  washed  as  if  he  had  been  a  new 
born  babe. 

J34 


Fallen  by  the  Way 

Pretty  soon  he  stood  erect,  then  he  stooped 
over,  washed  his  face  with  his  own  hands  and 
then  rose  up  and  slowly  wiped  his  face  and  his 
hands  with  his  handkerchief. 

At  last,  lifting  his  head,  he  looked  his  neigh 
bor  full  in  the  face  as  he  reached  his  right  hand. 
The  other  took  it  and  shook  it  heartily. 

"  Dot 's  all  right ;  you  cuts  down  vot  you 
likes." 

With  this  the  German  gathered  up  his  coat 
and  took  his  way  down  the  canyon  toward  his 
home. 

The  city-builder  looked  after  him,  his  heart 
bursting  with  shame  and  humiliation.  He  want 
ed  to  run  after  him,  to  bring  him  back,  to  beg 
his  pardon,  to  beg  his  pardon  on  his  knees.  But 
the  chill  and  damp  of  twilight  soon  began  to 
creep  into  his  bones,  and  he  slowly  ascended  to 
the  olive-tree  on  the  high  hilltop  where  he  had 
thrown  aside  his  coat.  He  gathered  the  garment 
about  his  chilled  shoulders,  and  too  weary  to  go 
further,  he  lay  with  his  face  to  the  dust.  He 
had  never  been  so  entirely  miserable  in  all  his 
miserable  life. 

How  continually  he  had  taught  all  men  the 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

wisdom,  the  duty,  the  beauty  of  turning  the 
other  cheek !  and  yet,  here  he  had  gone  down 
to  the  low  and  bestial  level  of  a  poor,  ignorant 
foreigner  and  fought  and  fought  as  a  dog  might 
fight. 

True,  he  had  been  tempted,  terribly  tempted  ; 
but  he  had  fallen  so  low,  so  foolishly,  that  he 
could  now  no  longer  hold  up  his  head  or  have 
the  heart  to  go  forward  with  his  lessons  of  love 
and  beauty  and  duty  at  all. 

He  lay  there  on  his  face,  and  he  felt  that 
surely  the  end  of  all  his  hopes  and  aspirations 
had  come. 

In  his  despair  his  thoughts  kept  continually 
turning  to  her,  Miriam.  Where  was  she  ? 
What  had  he  done  that  she  had  not  kept  her 
promise  ?  Five  years  had  swept  by.  He  had 
missed  her  presence,  her  calm  counsel,  serene 
wisdom,  so  much  all  the  time ;  and  as  hope 
began  to  falter,  and  all  things  to  fall  away 
from  him,  he  had  come  to  think  of  her  con 
tinually  and  to  wish  for  her  or  death.  u  I  will 
come  to  you — sometime."  And  now  that  he 
needed  her  so  entirely  his  soul  went  out  to 
her  entirely, — a  poor,  lone  dove  on  the  deluge 
136 


Fallen  by  the  Way 

of  waters,  that    found    no   place   for   the   sole 
of  its  foot. 

He  lay  there  on  the  heights  in  the  gathering 
night,  and,  as  his  heart  went  out  to  her,  he 
continually  repeated  :  "  I  will  come  to  you — 
sometime  "  ;  and  then  he  murmured  :  "  Lead 
us  not  into  temptation !  Lead  us  not  into 
temptation  ! " 


137 


XIV. — Under  the  Olive-Trees 

THOSE  shining  leaves  that  lisped  and  shook 
All  darkness  from  them,  sensate  leaves 

In  Nature's  never-ending  book  j 

Leaves  full  of  truth  as  garnered  sheaves 

That  hold  till  seed-time  fruitful  seed, 

To  grow  as  grows  some  small,  good  deed. 

How  strangely  and  how  vastly  still ! 

The  harvest  moon  hung  low  and  large, 
And  drew  across  the  dreamful  hill 

Like  some  huge  star-bound,  freighted  barge  ; 
Some  strange,  new,  neighbor-world  it  surely  seemed, 
The  while  he  gazed  and  dreamed,  yet  scarcely  dreamed. 

THE  poor,  discouraged  dreamer  under  the 
little  olive-tree  on  the  high  peak  above 
the  sea  was  so  very  sore  in  soul,  and  so  very 
sore  in  body,  too  !  He  could  have  borne  with 
the  last ;  but  the  two  together  made  him  earn 
estly  wish  to  die  and  leave  it  all  with  the  one 
word  "  Failure  "  for  his  epitaph. 

After  a  time  the  ever-welcome  winds,  warm 
and  balmy  as  with  a  healing  balm,  blew  in  and 
on  and  away  down  toward  the  Mexican  seas 
from  Japan. 

" '  Oh  that  I  had  the  wings  of  the  dove,  to 
fly  away  and  be  at  rest ! ' "  he  sighed  piteously, 
138 


Under  the  Olive-Trees 

as  the  warm,  strong  winds  went  on  by,  bearing 
their  snow-white  fleets  and  happy  voyagers. 
Surely,  these  clouds  that  drove  dreamily  about, 
above,  were  mighty  ships  that  bore  sweet  souls 
bound  heavenward. 

From  the  city  and  the  mountain-side  below 
him  came  up  the  song  and  the  melody  of  closing 
day.  Still  further  below,  many  and  many  a 
church  spire  pierced  the  warm,  white  clouds  that 
blew  in  from  the  sea  and  drew  softly  through  the 
tree-tops  above  the  city.  The  sound  of  church 
bells  came  up  to  him  through  the  world  of  clouds; 
came  up  to  him  there  under  the  little  olive-tree, 
as  if  they  had  lost  their  way,  as  he  had  lost  his 
way,  there  on  the  stony  steeps  of  his  mountain. 

Beyond  all  this  the  bosom  of  the  great  bay  of 
San  Francisco  rose  and  fell  with  the  sea  of  seas, 
and  gleamed  and  glistened  and  gloried  in  the  face 
of  God  as  if  a  living  thing. 

At  the  Golden  Gate,  without,  the  great  sea, 
with  its  hundred  thousand  white-clad  choristers, 
the  sea  doves,  sang  and  shrieked  and  shrieked 
and  sang. 

A  huge  sea-lion  from  the  seal  rocks  beyond 
the  city  of  San  Francisco  rose  out  of  the  sea, 
139 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

climbed  to  the  top  of  his  crag,  and  there  lifted 
his  bearded  face  straight  up  in  the  air,and  mouthed 
his  doleful  monotone  till  it  rolled  and  rose  above 
the  clang  of  the  church-bells  and  above  the  songs 
of  the  hundred  thousand  white-clad  singers  of 
the  sea  of  seas. 

And  still  the  soft  and  balmy  winds  came  in 
continually  with  their  warmth  and  healing  from 
the  dreamful  seas  of  Japan. 

But  the  man  under  the  olive-tree  was  miserable, 
utterly  miserable,  for  all  this  melody,  all  this  har 
mony  of  sea  and  song,  this  harmony  of  heaven 
and  earth. 

"  Oh,  why  may  I  not  build  a  ship  of  clouds 
and  launch  it  on  this  strong,  sweet  current  that 
flows  in  so  steadily  from  Japan  ?  Surely,  surely 
science  might  make  a  ship  to  sail  these  mighty 
streams  of  the  upper  world  !  Why,  men  have 
been  sailing  their  helpless  little  air-ships  in  the 
valley,  from  little  town  towers  for  centuries  ;  but 
who  has  dared  these  brave,  big  currents  that  keep 
place  in  heaven  like  mighty  rivers  which  turn 
not  to  the  right  nor  left,  but  keep  straight  on  ? 
Surely,  when  the  great  navigator  comes  he  will 
launch  his  stately  ships  upon  these  strong  and 
140 


Under  the  Olive-Trees 

steady  currents.  Man  has  kept  his  face  to  the 
ground  in  quest  of  gold ;  but  some  day,  some 
great  and  good  and  really  wise  Columbus  will 
come,  and  will  launch  his  ships  here  on  these 
strong,  swift,  sweet  currents  of  Japan,  and  sail 
to  the  undiscovered  continents  of  heaven." 

Such  were  the  weary  and  desolate  man's 
dreamful  and  confused  thoughts  as  he  lay  there 
wrapped  in  the  large  solemnity  of  gathering 
night.  Meantime,  the  countless  belts  and  curves 
and  crescents  of  electric-lights  leaped  suddenly 
into  existence  and  climbed  to  the  top  of  mount 
ains  beyond  the  city  of  San  Francisco.  The 
stars  had  stood  there  but  a  moment  before. 
Now,  one  could  not  tell  where  the  lights  left 
off  or  the  stars  began. 

The  gorgeous  and  flaming  star  of  Mars  had 
hung  just  above  the  grand  and  indescribably 
pathetic  figure  of  "  Our  Mother  of  Pain,"  at 
whose  feet  the  pious  and  patient  men  of  God,  a 
full  century  before,  had  built  their  holy  little 
temple,  the  Mission  Dolores. 

A  strangely  brilliant  little  star  was  settling 
down,  down,  down,  straight  between  the  lifted 
breasts  of  the  Holy  Virgin  where  they  lift  per- 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

petually,  as  in  the  piteous  agonies  of  motherhood. 

The  man's  racked  and  wearied  senses  wan 
dered  now,  and  grew  confused  with  the  sea  of 
lights  in  which  his  star  lay  drowning  at  the  feet 
of  Our  Mother  of  Sorrows.  For  now  the  face 
and  figure  of  the  most  divinely  glorious  being 
ever  seen  seemed  to  be  dimly  limned  out  before 
him ;  and  the  Star  of  Bethlehem  was  in  her 
wondrous  night  of  hair.  It  was  she  !  Miriam  ! 
that  wondrous  woman  of  Jerusalem  and  of 
Egypt!  "I  will  come  to  you — sometime/'  She 
had  come. 

And  a  ship  was  there  !  Was  it  but  a  cloud  ? 
Surely  there  was  no  mistaking  the  fact  of  the 
strong  and  steady  stream  from  Japan. 

It  seemed  to  him  that  no  word  had  been  said 
as  he  arose  from  under  the  olive-tree,  entered  the 
ship,  and  so  sailed  on  and  on  and  on.  They 
sailed  by  the  porch  of  heaven.  It  was  pavilioned 
with  stars,  propped  with  fearful  arches  formed  of 
uncompleted  worlds. 

They  sailed   beneath  the   Milky   Way,  that 

seemed    as    some   great   arch   above   a   surging 

river.     They  sailed  amid  the  stars,  above  the 

drowning  moon,  above  all  storms  and  counter- 

142 


Under  the  O live-Threes 

storms;  and  the  mighty  river  which,  like  the 
Gulf  Stream,  girdles  the  world,  swept  on  and 
on  and  on. 

Black  and  white  and  storm-tossed  clouds  were 
banked  below  or  heaped  on  either  side.  These 
seas  and  shores  of  tumbled  clouds  were  bed  and 
banks  of  this  awful  Gulf  Stream  of  the  upper 
world,  on  whose  strong  and  certain  currents  the 
air-ship  sailed  and  sailed  and  sailed. 

It  was  full  morning  when  he  landed ;  and  he 
was  alone.  The  ship  had  rested  on  a  pine-set 
mountain-top.  A  vast  valley  lay  below.  In 
the  center  of  this  valley,  sand-sown  and  tawny 
as  a  desert  of  Africa  all  about  its  borders,  lay 
gleaming  like  silver  in  the  morning  sun  a  city  of 
indescribable  splendor  and  magnitude. 

Almost  overcome  with  awe  and  wonder,  the 
man  descended  from  the  car,  keeping  his  eyes 
fixed  on  the  far-off  city  amid  its  groves  in  the 
heart  of  the  tawny  desert. 

Descending  through  the  pines  a  little  distance 
down  a  well-worn  road,  he  came  to  a  small  sta 
tion.  A  man  approached  him,  but  he  kept 
turning  about  to  look  for  the  silent  and  serenely 
beautiful  Madonna,  who  had  accompanied  him 
143 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

in  the  glorious  voyage  above  the   world.      He 
saw  her  not,  and  was  sad. 

Olive-trees,  orange-trees,  birds,  bees,  blos 
soms — a  railroad  depot  in  the  midst  of  all  this, 
and  yet  all  things  so  like  one  perpetual  Sunday. 
It  was  as  quiet,  as  restful,  as  flowery  here  as  the 
entrance  of  some  gorgeous  church  on  some 
Easter  Sunday, — as  if  the  people  were  waiting 
for  the  minister  to  come  in.  Yes,  there  was  the 
music,  and  such  music  !  No  shrieking,  soul- 
tearing  sounds — sounds  in  combat,  notes  in 
battle,  notes  at  war  with  notes — such  as  dis 
tract  the  civilized  (?)  earth  from  end  to  end  ;  no 
sickening  smells  and  other  abominations  that 
hold  high  carnival  at  the  average  depot  in  the 
outer  world. 

Peace,  peace,  peace  !  Melody,  poetry,  Para 
dise  ! 

And  yet,  this  was  surely  all  on  the  solid  earth  j 
for  the  man  who  came  forward  and  touched  his 
cap  to  the  stranger  was  gray  about  the  temples. 
Surely  he,  at  least,  had  not  yet  done  with  time. 
People  were  coming  and  people  were  going,  just 
as  elsewhere ;  old  people  and  young  people, 
plain  and  beautiful. 

144 


Under  the  Olive-Trees 

"  The  train  starts  exactly  on  the  hour.  You 
see  that  you  have  time  to  take  your  seat  for  the 
city." 

The  hand  indicated  a  high  tower  where  a 
great  clock  hung  above  the  few,  brief  rules,  the 
set  times  for  coming  and  going. 

As  the  stranger  took  his  seat  he  could  not 
help  missing  those  ever-present  lies  that  are  set 
up  in  any  depot  on  earth  :  "  Shortest  route  !  " 
"  Only  safe  line  !  "  "  Quickest  and  cheapest 
line  to  the  city." 

In  fact,  as  he  looked  out  through  the  car, — 
for  the  cars  were  made  of  malleable  glass,  trans 
parent  as  air  and  indestructible  as  brass  (one  of 
the  lost  arts  restored), — he  could  not  but  note 
the  entire  absence  of  the  decorative  advertise 
ments. 

The  shapely  clock-tower,  with  its  girdles  of 
brass  and  its  sides  of  broad  bronze,  was  a  goodly 
place  for  "  posters,"  too. 

But  these  unenterprising  people  had  not  even 
put  up  a  sign  to  say  that  space  on  this  tower  for 
advertising  purposes  was  to  be  had  cheaper  than 
on  any  other  clock-tower  on  the  road. 

Without  a  word  or  sound  or  sign  from  any 

JO  I45 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

one  save  from  the  clock  in  the  tower  and  the 
little  clocks  at  the  end  of  each  car  that  indicated 
not  only  the  time,  but  the  name  of  each  station, 
they  glided  out  and  they  glided  on. 

Inquiring  of  a  pleasant-faced  priest  at  his  side, 
he  learned,  to  his  great  relief — for  he  had 
neither  scrip  nor  purse — that  as  the  roads  all 
belonged  to  the  people,  the  people  did  not  take 
tribute  of  themselves  nor  of  the  stranger  within 
their  gates  who  came  to  honor  them  with  his 
presence. 

"  I  have  surely  been  here  before,"  said  the 
man  at  last,  as  if  to  himself,  while  he  sat  look 
ing  out  upon  the  beautiful  groves  and  roads  of 
roses  and  bananas  and  wooded  and  watered  parks, 
through  which  the  swift  and  silent  cars  continu 
ally  descended. 

"  If  you  will  allow  me,"  began  the  kindly 
monk,  "  that  is  a  matter,  the  idea  of  having 
been  here  before,  which  we  have  under  deep 
consideration." 

"  Will  you  explain  ?  " 

"  Certainly.      Meditative    people    are   almost 
constantly  seeing  something  in  this  life  that  they 
say  they  have  surely  seen  before  ;  and  that  some- 
146 


Under  the  Olive-Trees 

thing  is  always  something  beautiful  or  grand  or 
inspiring,  appealing  to  the  best  that  is  in  us. 
And  this,  some  of  us,  at  least,  take  to  be  one  of 
the  tangible  and  visible  evidences  of  immortality. 
This,  some  of  us  hold  to  be  pretty  clear  evi 
dence  that  we  not  only  shall  live  hereafter,  but 
that  we  have  lived  long,  long  before.  No,  no, 
my  son,  you  have  never  looked  on  this  scene  in 
this  life,  previous  to  this ;  for  it  is  all  very  new. 
But  it  may  be  that  somewhere  else,  in  some 
other  world,  or  at  least  in  some  other  life,  you, 
in  a  happy  moment  of  harmony  with  all  things, 
saw  something  very  like  this,  under  restful  and 
harmonious  conditions  very  like  to  these,"  said 
the  priest,  thoughtfully. 

The  stranger  was  dumb  with  wonder  and 
delight.  He  had  at  last  and  for  the  first  time 
since  leaving  the  lady  of  Jerusalem  by  the  Nile 
come  into  an  atmosphere  of  thought  in  which 
his  soul  if  not  his  body  had  been  born  from  the 
first.  He  lifted  his  hat  and  sat  uncovered  in 
silence.  Cottages,  fields  of  corn,  cane,  cotton, 
a  lane  of  banana-trees  shut  out  the  sun  from  the 
gliding  palaces  of  glass  all  along  now. 

"  And  all  this,  you  tell  me,  was  only  an  arid 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

sea  of  gleaming  sand  and  baked  mud  a  few  years 
ago  ? " 

"  Certainly ;  we  at  first  found  rain  hard  to 
produce ;  but  we  had  been  prudent  enough  to 
bring  with  us  something  better  than  the  natural 
storms  of  rain, — intelligence,  and  a  colony  of 
scientific  men  and  women.  We  now  have  rain 
whenever  it  is  needed,  but  never  when  it  is  not 
needed." 

"  Indeed  !     And  such  cars  !  " 

"Yes,"  said  the  priest,  "  we  make  glass  houses, 
railway  ties,  railway  tracks,  and  railway  cars,  as 
you  see  here,  out  of  the  sands." 

"  And  they  never  break  ?  " 

"  Glass  is  not  only  elastic,  as  all  know,  but 
glass,  by  our  redemption  of  a  lost  art,  is  made  as 
malleable  as  gold  or  copper." 

It  is  hardly  known  what  more  the  priest  said 
or  might  have  said,  as  they  glided  on  down 
under  the  broad  banana-trees  ;  for  just  then  the 
stranger  caught  a  glimpse  of  a  party  gathering 
bananas.  They  were  girls,  up  in  the  trees 
among  the  birds,  buried  in  the  broad  leaves,  an 
arm  thrusting  up  after  the  yellow  fruit,  a  brown 
limb  thrusting  out  below,  drawn  back,  bound 
148 


Under  the  Olive-Trees 

around  and  twined  about  a  branch  to  hold  fast ! 
Ah  !  he  forgot  that  a  priest  was  within  a  thous 
and  miles  of  him. 

Many  stations,  many  short  stops,  then  on  and 
on  through  the  continuous  and  seemingly  end 
less  lane  of  laden  trees. 

At  one  of  the  little,  leafy  stations  the  priest 
put  forth  his  hand  and  received  from  a  pretty 
Indian  girl  two  yellow  bananas.  They  were 
like  yellow  ears  of  corn,  so  large  were  they. 
And  such  flavor ! 

"  The  world,  the  outside  commercial  world," 
said  the  priest  as  he  handed  one  to  the  stranger, 
"  has  never  yet  tasted  a  banana.  Those  wild 
things,  gathered  green  by  savages  of  the  Cannibal 
Islands  and  thrown  into  the  holds  of  sailing  ves 
sels  to  rot  and  ripen,  ripen  and  rot,  are  not 
bananas.  They  are  disease.  They  are  death, 
death  for  little  children,  old  people,  young  peo 
ple,  all  people." 

At  last  they  glided  over  a  glass  bridge  that 
spanned  a  bent  lagoon.  The  central  railway 
station,  where  they  now  stopped  and  from  which 
all  tracks,  trains,  pneumatic  tubes,  airship-lines, 
and  even  streets  and  highways  ran,  was  simply 
149 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

a  palace,  a  glorious  palace  of  glass,  blue  above 
as  the  sky  is  blue ;  and  under  foot  the  solid 
earth,  snow-white  sand,  with  fountains  bursting 
up  through,  blossoming  trees,  and  birds  in  every 
tree,  and  a  song  in  the  throat  of  every  bird ;  for 
all  things  were  so  beautiful  and  all  things  were 
so  happy  the  birds  could  but  sing  always. 


150 


XV.— As  When  The  Christ  Shall 
Come  Again 

FROM  out  the  golden  doors  of  dawn 

The  wise  men  came,  of  wondrous  thought, 

Who  knew  the  stars.      From  far  upon 
The  shoreless  East  they  kneeling  brought 

Their  costly  gifts  of  inwrought  gems  and  gold, 

While  cloudlike  incense  from  their  presence  rolled. 

Their  sweet  of  flower-fields,  their  sweet 

Distilments  of  most  sacred  leaves 
They  laid,  low-bending,  at  His  feet, 

As  reapers  bend  above  their  sheaves — 
As  strong-armed  reapers  bending  clamorous 
To  gather  golden  full  sheaves  kneeling  thus. 

And  kneeling  so,  they  spake  of  when 

God  walked  His  garden's  sacred  sod, 
Nor  yet  had  hid  His  face  from  men, 

Nor  yet  had  man  forgotten  God. 
They  spake.      But  Mary  kept  her  thought  apart 
And,  silent,  "  pondered  all  things  in  her  heart." 

They  spake  in  whispers  long,  they  laid 

Their  shaggy  heads  together,  drew 
Some  stained  scrolls  breathless  forth,  then  made 

Such  speech  as  only  wise  men  knew, — 
Their  high,  red  camels  on  the  huge  hill  set 
Outstanding,  like  some  night-hewn  silhouette. 

THE  stranger  was  hungry, — more  than  hun 
gry,  he  was  famishing.     The  good  priest 
knew  this, — knew  it  not  from  words,  maybe, 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

not  from  look,  act,  or  utterance.  But  so  sensi 
tive  and  refined  had  these  people  grown  here, 
even  in  a  few  years  of  meditation  and  unselfish 
ness,  that  they  really  knew  the  thoughts  and 
feelings  of  one  another, — as  dumb  horses,  dogs 
and  other  lower  animals  know  our  desires  and 
designs.  More  of  this,  however,  later  on. 

Over  and  across  a  wide,  snow-white,  sand- 
sown  avenue  of  orange-trees,  where  no  cart,  car, 
carriage,  or  any  other  rumbling  nuisance  could 
pass,  the  good  priest  led  to  a  public  restaurant 
by  a  great  fountain. 

"  Not  being  a  strong  man,"  he  began  as  they 
sat  down,  "  I  chose  the  duties  of  a  waiter  when 
I  came,  and  I  serve  my  two  hours  of  daily  toil 
here.  However,  my  toil,  I  regret  to  say,  must 
come  to  an  end  next  year,  as  I  shall  then  be  sixty. 
This  man  who  will  wait  on  us  now  is  a  young 
Methodist  clergyman,  or  rather  he  was  a  Method 
ist  clergyman.  But  as  all  roads  run  in  together 
as  we  approach  any  one  city  or  center  of  any  sort, 
so  here,  as  we  attain  peace  and  approach  some 
thing  nearer  the  common  center  of  more  perfect 
life,  we  find  all  religions  running  in  together. 
We  are  all  walking  along  so  nearly  together  here, 
15* 


As  When  The  Christ  Shall  Come  Again 

in  fact,  that  we  can  and  do  touch  hands  across 
the  narrow  and  dim  little  lines  that  divide  us." 

"  Well,  well,  well !  and  you  say  you,  a  not 
very  strong  man,  will  lay  aside  the  menial  em 
ployment  of  a  common  servant,  or  waiter,  at  the 
age  of  sixty,  with  regret  ?  " 

"  Certainly.  I  really  and  truly  like  to  serve. 
If  Christ  could  wash  his  disciples'  feet,  might  I 
not  give  bread  to  a  hungry  man ;  or  even  wash 
a  hungry  man's  plate  ?  " 

The  stranger  held  his  peace  a  moment,  and 
then,  as  the  choice  repast  was  served,  ate  in  silent 
amazement  as  the  priest  continued  : 

"  But  of  course  I  cannot  be  idle.  After 
reaching  sixty  years  I  must  begin  to  hold  office  j 
so  I  shall  be  required  to  serve  the  Republic  many 
years  still,  if  I  live.  In  fact,  no  man  or  woman 
who  lives  long  enough  can  hardly  escape  serving 
a  term  as  president." 

u  May  I  be  permitted  to  know  the  mystery  of 
it  all  ?  " 

ct  There  is  no  mystery  at  all.  Mystery  there 
may  be  in  other  republics,  where  presidents  and 
often  thousands  of  other  officers  are  chosen  by 
man's  popular  voice,  but  not  so  here.  God, 


Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

Nature,  elects  our  every  officer.  You  see,  any 
one  coming  here  from  the  outer  world,  and  all 
who  are  born  here,  are  registered, — age,  occu 
pation,  and  so  on.  Well,  every  one  attaining 
the  age  of  seventy  becomes  a  senator,  and  the 
oldest  persons  in  the  Senate  comprise  the  Coun 
cil.  The  oldest  of  these  is  president,  and  is 
usually  a  person  of  eighty ;  for  we  live  in  the 
full  enjoyment  of  all  our  faculties  at  least  ten 
years  longer  than  in  the  outside  world,  where  the 
brain  and  body  are  strained  and  strung  till  they 
break  from  the  very  tension." 

"  And  then  you  have  no  elections  at  all  ? " 

"  Yes,  the  election  of  Nature ;  the  choice  of 
God." 

The  stranger  shook  his  head  at  this  intensely 
democratic  proposition. 

u  I  see  you  do  not  entirely  approve  of  leaving 
the  election  to  God.  You  fear  that  some  bad 
or  foolish  man  may  by  this  means  attain  the 
head  of  government.  Listen  to  me.  Does  not 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  of  a  certain 
great  nation  assert  that  'all  men  are  born  free 
and  equal'?  Now,  if  we  are  born  equal,  how  is 
it  that  we  become  so  unequal  as  we  go  forward 
'54 


As  When  The  Christ  Shall  Come  Again 

in  the  great  outer  world  ?  Why,  you  see  some 
are  hit,  hit  hard  in  the  hot  and  bitter  battle  of 
life.  Wrong,  insult,  oppression,  hard  work,  hun 
ger, — ay,  hunger,  hunger  of  body  and  soul, — 
these  things  dwarf,  break  down  the  very  best 
and  finest  of  you.  And  so  it  is  that  you  in  the 
outer  world,  with  your  lawyers,  your  politicians, 
your  idle  parsons  and  your  idle  priests,  your  lying 
money-lenders  and  land-agents,  your  oppressive 
middle-men,  eleven  idle  and  scheming  men  to 
the  one  slave  at  work,  one  man  working  ten, 
fifteen,  twenty  hours,  if  he  can  stand  up  under 
it —  Ah  me  !  no  wonder  that  man  succeeds, 
with  all  this  evil  and  ill-doing,  in  making  une 
qual  that  which  God  made  equal." 

They  had  risen  and  passed  out  into  the  street. 
The  stranger  was  full  of  wonder,  and  entirely 
silent  with  awe  and  admiration.  And  yet  he 
could  not  help  recalling  the  fact  that  he  had 
somewhere,  far  back  in  life,  heard  much  of  this 
which  was  being  uttered  here.  His  mind  went 
back  to  a  voyage  up  the  Nile,  to  a  night  amid 
the  ruins  of  fearful  Karnak,  to  the  glory  and  the 
serene  beauty  of  a  pathetic  and  splendid  face 
there.  His  soul  went  out  continually  to  the 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

grand  and  silent  woman  who  had  come  to  him 
in  the  clouds  only  the  night  before  and  had  car 
ried  him  away  and  out  of  his  world  of  cares,  out 
of  himself,  to  this,  her  world. 

"  You  are  thinking  of  her  ?  " 

"  Of  whom  ?  " 

"Well,  no  matter  about  her  name.  Let  us 
say  our  guardian  angel.  I  am  desirous  of  lead 
ing  you  to  her.  Shall  we  proceed  directly  to 
her,  or  wait  till  to-morrow  ?  To-morrow  were 
better." 

"  At  once,  please  God,  at  once ! "  cried  the 
man,  with  clasped  hands,  as  he  saw  the  kindly 
man  hesitate. 

"  You  need  rest." 

"  Indeed,  indeed,  I  do  not  need  rest.  I  am 
strong  as  a  lion.  I  need  only  her — to  see  her." 

A  shade  of  concern  and  deep  sadness  swept 
over  the  sensitive  priest's  face,  as  if  he  had  some 
thing  in  his  mind  which  he  hesitated  to  tell.  At 
last  he  said  : 

"  Yes,  yes,  you  are  strong." 

"  And  she — she,  my  Madonna,  Miriam — she 
is  not  strong  ?  " 

"  Far,  far  from  strong,  my  son." 
156 


As  When  The  Christ  Shall  Come  Again 

The  priest's  head  was  on  his  breast  as  he 
spoke.  Then  lifting  his  face  he  said  pleasantly  : 

"  But  she  forbids  all  sadness  on  this  score,  and 
so  I  must  obey  her  and  be  cheerful." 

"  But  I  may  see  her  to-night  ?  " 

"  To-morrow,  my  son,  to-morrow." 


157 


XVI. — Behold,  The  City  Beautiful! 

THE  SUN  lay  molten  in  the  sea 
Of  sand,  and  all  the  sea  was  rolled 
In  one  broad,  bright  intensity 
Of  gold  and  gold  and  gold  and  gold. 

THE  rosy  fingers  of  morning  reached  out 
of  heaven,  laid  aside  night's  somber  man 
tle  from  the  mountain-tops  and  lightly  touched 
the  tawny  bosom  of  the  desert,  a  vision  of  inde 
scribable  splendor  rose  up  from  the  far-off  levels 
of  boundless  yellow  sands  to  the  east. 

Golden  sunlight  and  glittering  yellow  sands 
were  warp  and  woof,  and  all  woven  into  one. 
You  could  not  say  which  was  sunlight  and  which 
was  sea,  which  was  gold  or  golden  sun. 

But  the  miracle  of  it  all  was  the  forest  of 
spires,  minarets,  towers,  pyramids,  obelisks  and 
the  like  that  rose,  a  mirage,  above  the  levels  of 
the  desert.  The  cross,  the  crescent,  the  fire- 
worshiper's  glowing  signs  of  the  rising  sun,  all 
were  here  in  amazing  magnitude ;  and  all  in 
gorgeous  glory  and  harmony  of  form  and  color. 

Far  away  they  seemed,  like  the  dim  and  dist- 
158 


Behold,  The  City  Beautiful! 

ant  outlines  of  some  glorious  New  Jerusalem,  or 
an  inspired  dream  of  a  prophet  of  God  in  Israel. 

"Beautiful!  Beautiful!  Beautiful!  Oh,  that 
is  indeed  my  dream  of  the  City  Beautiful  ! 
Would  to  God  it  could  be  real !  "  sighed  the 
man  as  he  turned  away  his  eyes  a  moment  to 
rest  them  from  the  splendid  sight. 

"  It  is  all  real,"  said  the  priest,  gently.  He  had 
come  in  with  the  sun  to  see  what  he  might  do  to 
serve  the  stranger;  for  here  there  was  no  occasion 
for  locks  or  closed  doors,  for  clerks  or  call-boys. 

"  All  real  ?  That,  that  all  real  ?  Then  you 
found  the  City  of  the  Sun  on  coming  to  this 
wilderness.  You  surely  found  one  of  the  fabled 
cities  of  gold  that  the  daring  Spaniard  searched 
for  so  persistently,"  said  the  man,  as  he  turned 
again  and  looked  upon  the  glorious  spectacle. 

u  No,  we  built  it  all.  We  still  are  building ; 
for  our  work  is  only  begun." 

The  man  threw  out  his  hand  and  caught  the 
priest  desperately  by  the  arm. 

"  Let  me  go  back  to  the  hard  realities  of  my 
rocks,  for  I  shall  go  mad  if  I  see  more  of  these 
splendid  visions,  and  then  after  all  have  to  waken 
and  see  them  fade  to  nothing." 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

The  priest  sat  down  beside  him,  holding  him 
tenderly  by  the  hand  which  had  been  thrown  out 
so  wildly  toward  him. 

"  I  assert  it  is  all  real,"  he  said.  "  You  see, 
at  first,  when  we  came  and  settled  here  where 
the  old  Toltec  ruins  lay,  we  had  not  progressed 
in  science  so  far  as  we  now  have.  Then  our 
learned  men  had  not  emancipated  themselves, 
and  so  were  busy  breaking  the  shackles ;  and 
then  it  took  time  to  experiment  and  give  full 
play  and  practice  to  their  designs.  But  now 
they  can  build  a  city  in  the  desert  almost  in  a 
day." 

The  stranger  looked  at  the  priest  a  moment 
hard  and  steadily.  A  gentle  and  reassuring 
pressure  of  the  hand  was  his  only  answer. 
Finally  the  priest  said  : 

"  If  you  will  look  toward  the  right  of  the 
loftiest  obelisk  you  will  see  a  most  stately  pyra 
mid.  That  was  the  first  thing  built  by  their  new 
process,  as  a  sort  of  experiment." 

The  man  looked,  and  beheld  what  seemed  to 
him  a  pyramid  more  noble  than  that  of  Cheops. 
The  priest  went  on  : 

"Of  course  there  was  nothing  new  in  this 
160 


Behold,  The  City  Beautiful! 

building  a  pyramid  out  of  desert  sands.  This 
was  rather  an  acknowledgment  to  the  Egyptians. 
We  claim  only  to  have  restored  a  lost  art." 

"  How,  what  ?  " 

The  man  had  hastily  pressed  the  fingers  of  his 
left  hand  hard  against  his  burning  forehead ;  for 
a  strange  and  sudden  thought  had  pierced  his 
brain.  The  priest  continued  : 

"  There  must  have  been  great  inundations  of 
sand  from  Sahara  in  the  olden  time.  And  this 
sand  had  to  be  disposed  of.  They  could  not 
continually  pour  it  into  the  Nile,  and  so  they 
cemented  it  and  built  the  pyramids  out  of  it, — 
yes,  carried  it  up  on  their  backs,  perhaps,  and 
there  fused  and  cemented  and  melted  it  into 
shapely  blocks  as  they  desired  by  the  use  of 
chemicals.  And  so  they  got  rid  of  the  sand  and 
had  the  shapely  pyramids  to  look  upon  and 
perpetuate  the  story  of  the  lost  arts  of  immortal 
and  glorious  old  Egypt." 

By  this  time  the  man  had  laid  his  left  hand  on 
the  hand  of  the  priest  which  held  his  own.  But 
he  was  too  eager  to  listen,  and  to  learn,  to  do 
more  than  this,  or  to  even  move  his  lips. 

u  But,"  continued  the  priest  with  enthusiasm, 

ii  161 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

"  our  scientists  have  done  more  than  restore  this 
lost  art  in  the  building  of  cities.  There  are  no 
beasts  of  burthen  here  as  in  Egypt.  In  freedom, 
where  men  can  really  follow  their  natural  and 
wholesome  desires,  labor  is  free  to  choose  its 
vocation  and  its  hours.  Necessity  does  not  force 
a  man  to  do  the  most  menial  work.  The  hard 
est  toiler  gets  the  best  pay  with  us,  and  the  pleas- 
antest  tasks  the  lightest  pay.  This  naturally 
leads  to  the  employment  of  science  to  make 
labor's  tasks  light  and  pleasant,  rather  than 
merely  profitable  to  the  employer.  I  spoke  of 
the  fusing  of  sand  with  chemicals.  Well,  now, 
an  elevator  is  not  a  pretty  thing,  nor  a  poetical 
thing,  nor  is  it  quite  what  I  mean  ;  but  if  you 
keep  in  your  mind  the  idea  of  an  elevator,  such 
as  is  used  in  the  loading  of  wheat,  you  will  have 
some  idea  of  the  way  in  which  we  gather  up 
sand  from  the  desert  and  carry  it  to  the  tops 
of  our  tallest  edifices,  and  then  melt  it  into 
column  and  spire  and  dome,  as  readily  and 
easily  as  you  can  write  your  name  in  the  sand 
with  a  walking-stick." 

The  man  turned  his  face  once  more  to  look 
at  tower  and  tomb,  minaret,  cross,  crescent,  and 
162 


Behold,  The  City  Beautiful! 

all  the  numberless  works  before  him  under  the 
glowing  sun,  in  the  buildings  of  the  City  Beau 
tiful.  With  grateful  heart  he  cried  : 

"  'And  the  desert  shall  blossom  as  the  rose.' ' 

"  The  desert,"  said  the  priest,  u  is  the  place 
for  the  rose.  The  only  real  place  for  the  rose  is 
in  the  fervid  sands  of  the  desert.  Warm  sands 
above,  artesian  water  below,  and  you  have  such 
roses  as  the  world  has  not  seen  since  the  Garden 
of  Eden.  As  for  cities,  we  simply  could  not 
build,  never  could  have  built,  as  we  have  built, 
but  for  this  beautiful  sea  of  desert  sand." 

"  I  observe  that  you  have  the  symbols  of  all 
religions,"  said  the  man,  meditatively,  after 
looking  once  more  far  out  and  under  the  newly- 
risen  sun." 

"  No,  we  have  but  one  religion." 

u  Then  why  do  I  see  all  these  various  sym 
bols  ?  " 

u  These  are  but  harmonies  and  traditions, 
histories  in  the  air." 

"  Then  what  is  this  one  religion,  pray  ?  " 

The  priest  was  silent  for  a  long  time,  still 
holding  to  both  the  hands  that  had  been  thrust 
with  eager  inquiry  into  his.     At  last  he  said  : 
163 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

"  I  should  like  to  coin  a  new  word.  I  should 
like  to  find  some  fusing  and  melting  chemical, 
such  as  they  use  out  yonder  in  melting  and  fus 
ing  together  the  sands  in  building  temples  and 
shrines  in  all  religions.  But  I  am  not  cunning 
in  speech.  Let  me  say,  then,  that  our  one 
religion  is  to  love  truth,  to  love  country,  to  do 
good." 

"  And  what,  then,  do  you  worship  ?  " 

Again  the  good  priest  was  a  long  time  silent. 
He  looked  down  to  the  floor  and  then  up  and 
out  and  far  away.  At  last  he  said  slowly,  hum 
bly,  and  hardly  above  his  breath : 

"  We  worship  Truth,  Duty,  Beauty.  Blend 
these  three,  this  trinity  and  all  religions  together, 
as  they  blend  yonder  sands,  and  then  call  it  God. 
We  worship  that — GOD." 


164 


XVII. — In  Her  Presence  at  Last 


HE  WALKED  the  world  with  bended  head. 
"  There  is  no  thing,"  he  moaning  said, 
"  That  must  not  some  day  join  the  dead." 

He  sat  where  rolled  a  river  deep  ; 
A  woman  sat  her  down  to  weep  ; 
A  child  lay  in  her  lap  asleep. 

The  waters  touched  the  mother's  hand. 
He  blessed  the  babe.      He  passed  from  land, 
But  left  it  laughing  in  the  sand. 

That  one  kind  word,  that  one  good  deed, 
Was  as  if  you  should  plant  a  seed 
In  sand  along  death's  sable  brede. 

And  looking  from  the  farther  shore 

He  saw,  where  he  had  sat  before, 

A  light  that  grew,  grew  more  and  more. 

He  saw  a  growing,  glowing  throng 
Of  happy  people  white  and  strong 
With  faith,  and  jubilant  with  song. 

It  grew  and  grew,  this  little  seed 
Of  good  sown  in  that  day  of  need, 
Until  it  touched  the  stars  indeed  ! 

And  then  the  old  man  smiling  said, 
With  youthful  heart  and  lifted  head, 
"  No  good  deed  ever  joins  the  dead." 
I65 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

l'  I  ^HE  world  is  too  much  with  us."  We  must 
A  turn  back  to  some  of  the  old  beliefs. 
We  can  't  get  to  heaven  on  a  railroad  car,  no 
matter  how  fast  it  runs.  O  my  preachers,  this 
railroad  leveling  of  all  things  is  terrible,  mons 
trous  ;  for  it  is  making  monsters  of  men,  level 
ing  them  down  so  that  their  roads  can  cross  over 
all  religion  into  heaven.  You  have  explained 
away  the  parable  of  the  rich  man  down  in  hell. 

My  friend,  who  was  this  Jesus  Christ  ?  There 
was  but  one  Christ,  a  poor  carpenter,  who  said  : 
"  Sell  all  that  thou  hast  and  distribute  unto  the 
poor,  and  come,  follow  me."  But  you  are  preach 
ing  another  Christ  entirely. 

Several  times  Spain  arose  and  turned  out  the 
priests  who  had  got  hold  of  the  gold.  I  implore 
you,  teach  the  true  Christ.  Tell  your  splendid 
paymasters  that  the  people  can  rise  up  as  easily 
as  of  old  and  turn  the  rich  people  out,  as  the  rich 
priests  were  turned  out.  They  can  even  go  out, 
out  in  the  wilderness  as  the  Jews  went  out,  and 
build  new  worlds,  if  their  taskmasters  continue 
to  oppress  them. 

As  the  priest  and  the  stranger  approached  her 
166 


In  Her  Presence  at  Last 

wide-open  door  under  the  olive-trees,  she  came 
forward  to  meet  them. 

The  same  ardent  sincerity,  the  same  eloquence 
of  silence  on  her  pale  and  passionless  lips  !  Ah, 
how  pale  she  was  !  Her  once  black  hair  had 
whitened  with  her  beautiful  face.  The  care, 
toil,  endurance  of  other  days  had  taxed  her  ter 
ribly.  She  was  now  paying  that  tax  with  her 
precious  life.  And  yet,  she  was  so  beautiful 
still !  But  it  was  the  beauty  of  the  grand  old 
battlements  of  Rome  in  the  moonlight,  the 
majestic  and  mighty  ruin  of  Karnak  on  the  Nile 
at  night. 

Her  great,  pathetic  eyes  looked  at  the  stranger 
as  if  looking  out  from  another  world  for  a 
moment,  and  then  she  threw  her  two  hands  out 
as  if  throwing  them  across  the  years  that  had 
rolled  between  them.  The  years  were  spanned, 
swept  aside,  and  the  two  were  as  of  old. 

The  priest  went  on  his  way  without  words. 
There  are  times,  and  they  are  very  frequent, 
when  words  are  an  impertinence. 

People  here,  as  in  other  parts  of  the  semi- 
tropics,  did  not  live  in  houses  much.  With 
out  a  word  she  slowly  led  out  and  along  by 
167 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

the  fountains  and   trees  where  the   birds  sang. 

There  were  no  servants,  indeed  no  noise  or 
friction  of  any  sort  anywhere.  It  seemed  as 
though  he  had  at  last  found  a  land  on  earth  that 
had  some  sense  of  heaven.  Here  it  seemed  as 
if  it  were  one  eternal  Sabbath.  And  right  and 
left,  up  and  down  the  long  wooded  and  watered 
streets,  people  were  coming  and  people  were 
going ;  pausing  now  to  speak  to  one  another  in 
a  soft  and  restful  fashion,  lingering  to  listen, 
turning  about  to  catch  a  last  look  or  word,  but 
that  was  all ;  there  was  no  haste,  and  the  chat 
tering  was  all  left  to  the  birds. 

Passing  on  and  up  and  around  through  lanes 
of  perfumed  woods,  by  sparkling  fountains  and 
pleasant  porches,  they  came  to  the  summit,  or, 
rather,  the  center,  where  the  great  trout-pools 
bubbled  and  boiled  up  through  the  massive 
blocks  and  broken  ruins  of  some  prehistoric 
Toltec  city.  She  paused  here  to  rest  a  moment, 
and  turned  to  look  below.  She  put  out  her 
hand.  He  comprehended  her  thought. 

She  had  indeed  built  a  city,  her  City  Beautiful 
in  the  desert.  This,  where  they  stood,  was  the 
hub  of  a  wheel;  in  every  direction  ran  the 
1 68 


In  Her  Presence  at  Last 

spokes ;  at  the  tips  of  the  spokes  and  far  out 
and  around  at  the  foot  of  the  mountains  ran  a 
track  of  glass,  around  which  cars  of  glass  kept 
gliding,  as  spiders  glide  along,  around  and  over 
their  own  little  world  of  curious  and  intricate 
web,  in  silence  and  harmonious  perfection. 

"  But  the  title-deeds  to  it  all  ?     The  world 
will  come  this  way  some  day,  and  then — " 

"  Ah,  that  I  have  provided  for.  You  are  a 
dreamer,  I  am  a  builder.  You  are  of  heaven, 
but  I  am  only  of  earth.  I  bought  the  whole 
fifty  leagues  of  desert  for  a  small  sum.  And 
so  you  see  I  have  in  this,  at  least,  lived  up  to 
the  Lord's  Prayer :  c  Lead  us  not  into  tempta 
tion  J ;  for  no  man  will  be  tempted  to  try  to  take 
this  land  from  us.  I,  in  turn,  have  given  all,  by 
irrevocable  will,  to  our  people.  There  is  not  a 
human  being  here,  from  the  priest  who  brought 
you  here  to  the  babe  born  within  this  hour,  who 
is  not  a  full  partner  in  all  the  real  interests  of 
this  city  of  the  desert.  We  have  no  disinherited. 
The  coming  together  of  my  people  does  not 
enrich  some  without  toil.  The  landless  do  not 
pay  tribute  to  the  landlords.  All  are  equal 
owners  in  natural  and  social  values. 
169 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

"  The  curse  of  all  society  is  the  grant 
ing  of  special  privileges  which  are  the  survi 
vals  of  the  divine  right  of  force  and  fraud. 
I  determined  that  my  city  should  exist  for 
the  granting  and  preserving  of  equal  rights. 
I  determined  that  there  should  be  no  privi 
leges  granted  to  the  few.  We  have  no  monop 
oly  laws  ;  we  have  no  patent-rights,  or  copy 
rights,  even." 

"  But  is  that  just  ?  "  said  the  man.  "  Has 
not  a  man  a  right  to  his  book  ?  " 

"  He  has  a  right  to  sell  his  book  once,  but 
not  for  a  half-century.  It  is  just,  when  all 
privileges  are  abolished  together.  Then  each 
man  invents  for  all  and  all  the  rest  invent  for 
him.  It  is  a  free  exchange  of  benefits." 

The  man's  face  shone. 

"  I  see  !  "  he  said.  "  The  incentive  to  inven 
tion  is  the  love  of  it ;  the  reward  is  the  pleasure 
of  creating." 

She  arose  and  they  walked  on,  his  mind 
exalted  with  the  new  idea. 

"  And  they  are  all  so  happy  and  prosperous  !  " 
he  exclaimed,  his  mind  turning  back  to  the 
brown  girls  he  had  seen  gathering  fruit  among 
170 


In  Her  Presence  at  Last 

the  broad  leaves  as  he  glided  down  from  the 
mountain  the  day  before. 

u  So  happy,  so  healthy,  and  so  beautiful,"  she 
continued,  as  they  entered  a  retreat  where  she 
threw  herself  on  a  lion's  skin  that  covered  a 
broad,  silken  couch.  He  sank  at  her  side.  He 
put  out  his  hand  to  touch  and  take  hers  to  his 
heart.  She  did  not  repel  him.  She  did  not 
take  her  hand  away.  She  did  not  disdain  his 
touch;  but  somehow  her  soul  seemed  far,  far 
away,  above  him,  so  far  above  him.  So  much 
larger  she  seemed  as  he  sat  there  in  his  narrow 
vanity  and  selfishness,  that  he  felt  like  crouch 
ing  down  on  the  floor  at  her  feet. 

How  tranquilly  grand  she  was  in  all  her  silent 
splendor.  Time  had  only  made  her  more  glori 
ous,  glorious  in  body  as  in  soul  it  seemed  now, 
now  as  she  sat  there  all  aglow  and  flushed  with 
the  excitement  of  their  meeting.  But  it  was 
only  momentary  with  her,  this  flush  and  glow 
and  glory  of  form  and  face.  Beauty  there  was, 
and  glow  and  color,  fervor  and  fire  even ;  but  it 
was  the  fire  and  glow  of  the  dying  sun. 

The  kindly  old  priest  came  back  after  a  time 
to  take  the  stranger  with  him.  They  wandered 
171 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

away  together,  and  in  a  quiet  way  he  talked 
when  requested,  very  earnestly  of  himself  to  the 
stranger,  and  as  nearly  as  can  be  recalled  as 
follows : 

"  As  for  being  a  priest,  I  am  a  priest ;  and 
yet  I  am  not  now  all  priest.  It  did  not  seem 
good  to  me  that  the  people  should  be  ignorant 
and  dependent  to  the  end  of  time.  If  the  world 
is  to  lay  aside  the  sword  and  turn  to  the  plough 
share  it  must  be  done  intelligently  if  done  per 
manently.  Love  must  be  in  the  hearts  of  the 
people  as  well  as  in  the  hearts  of  the  priests. 
Religion  must  be  a  fact,  not  merely  a  form. 
The  people  are  good,  the  world  is  beautiful,  and 
God  is  love.  Let  the  child  that  comes  laughing 
down  out  of  heaven  to  us,  clapping  its  tiny 
hands  with  delight  all  day  in  the  open  fields,  not 
be  told  that  it  is  sinful,  and  that  the  world  is 
wicked,  and  that  God  is  angry  with  this  beauti 
ful  world  which  he  has  made  for  man.  No, 
no  !  God  has  made  each  child  happy,  and  it 
should  be  forbidden  that  man,  priest  or  layman, 
should  make  it  unhappy.  What  evangelist  has 
ever  yet  gone  forth  preaching  faith  in  man  ? 
Not  one.  But  man  is  and  ever  has  been 
172 


In  Her  Presence  at  Last 

preaching  the  depravity  of  man.  Man  seems 
even  to  try  to  show  the  goodness  of  God  by 
publishing  his  own  wickedness.  It  is  high  time 
to  stop  this.  You  cannot  make  even  a  child 
good  by  forever  forcing  it  to  believe  it  is  bad. 

"  Let  man  go  into  the  desert,  having  faith  in 
God  as  Moses  had,  but  above  all  faith  in  man  ; 
and  with  the  gospel  of  peace  and  good-will  he 
can,  in  this  age,  when  savage  men  and  savage 
beasts  have  ceased  to  be,  build  such  a  New  Jeru 
salem  as  the  world  has  never  dreamed  of. 

"  Look  at  Salt  Lake, — ignorant  leaders,  a 
degrading  religion,  the  lowest  of  Europe  for  a 
following,  one  tenth  to  the  church,  much  time 
and  hard  toil  to  the  temple ;  and  yet  the  Union 
to-day  contains  no  better,  happier,  or  more  pros 
perous  people.  Therefore  preach  that  man  is 
good,  open  the  sea-doors  and  let  hungry  Europe 
come  to  people  our  deserts." 

The  City  Builder  found  himself  being  irresis 
tibly  drawn  toward  this  thoughtful  man.  He 
asked  him  to  tell  how  it  was  that  he  came  to 
walk  out  and  down  from  his  high  place  and  take 
up  his  home  in  the  desert. 

Very  deliberately  he  began,  after  some  reflec 
ts 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

tion,  and  spoke,  as  nearly  as  can  be  remembered, 
to  this  effect : 

"  There  is  a  sort  of  Free-Masonry,  as  it  were, 
among  men  in  the  world  of  thought ;  a  sort  of 
common  ground,  common  sense,  in  upper  worlds 
of  thought.  The  eminent  theologian  is  not 
necessarily  a  more  religious  man  than  the  emi 
nent  mathematician.  The  eminent  mathema 
tician  is  not  of  necessity  a  wiser  man  than  the 
eminent  theologian.  But  in  this  age  of  advance 
ment  all  thinkers  of  all  creeds  or  callings  have  a 
community  of  thought  on  the  common  ground 
of  common-sense.  And  looking  out  and  down 
from  this,  oftentimes  with  their  gray  heads  laid 
close  together,  they  have  had  their  hearts  torn 
continually  at  the  contemplation  of  the  misery 
of  men.  The  eminent  and  thoughtful  theolo 
gians,  most  especially,  have  deplored  and  con 
tinue  to  deplore  this  misery,  so  inseparably  inter 
woven,  in  the  present  order  of  things,  with  false 
hood  practiced  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Now,  of  these  eminent  men  of  the  church  there 
are,  and  long  have  been,  two  distinct  kinds :  one 
the  kind  that  pities  the  misery  and  deplores  the 
ignorance  and  deceit,  but  at  the  same  time  sees 
174 


In  Her  Presence  at  Last 

no  way  out  of  it  all,  and  believes  that  the 
misery  and  the  ignorance  and  the  deceit  are 
inseparable,  and  that  the  best  thing  to  do  is  to 
leave  things  as  they  are  and  go  right  along  with 
all  the  falsehoods  and  all  the  forms  and  all  the 
fees.  The  other  kind  of  man  among  the  emi 
nent  theologians  is  the  one  who  desires  to  despise 
forms  and  ceremonies  and  shams,  and  to  walk 
in  the  footprints  of  the  meek  and  lowly  Naza- 
rene,  without  pay  or  price.  Of  course  there  is 
a  third  class,  or  kind  of  theologians,  so-called, 
and  this  is,  by  far  the  most  numerous.  But 
remember,  I  have  been  speaking  of  emiment 
men,  of  thinkers,  not  of  men  who  enter  the 
church  as  they  enter  the  army,  merely  for  the 
money  and  to  escape  that  one  first  command  of 
God  when  man  was  driven  out  of  Eden,  which 
was,  l  In  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat 
bread.5  But  as  this  large  class  weighs  nothing 
in  the  world  of  thought,  I  need  not  speak  of  it 
again.  The  second  kind  referred  to,  however, 
is  more  numerous  than  one  would  at  first  believe. 
So,  when  I  learned  that  an  attempt  was  to  be 
made  somewhere  in  the  deserts  of  America  to 
found  a  community  as  an  example  to  the  world, 
175 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

on  the  plain,  brief  precepts,  principles,  example, 
and  sermons  of  Jesus  Christ,  I  turned  my  back 
on  forms  and  begged  to  be  of  it.  And  then  I 
wanted  to  help  destroy  gold  and  silver,  the  root 
of  so  much  evil ;  and  having  long  had  a  theory 
that  gold  and  silver  grow,  as  mosses  or  even  as 
potatoes  grow,  I  wanted  time  and  room  and 
place  to  put  it  to  the  test." 

"  And  it  is  you,  you  who  made  all  this  gold 
and  silver  that  glitters  everywhere  in  such  pro 
fusion  ?  So  much  gold,  and  yet  a  waiter !  " 

"  A  waiter  has  simply  combined  some  of 
God's  elements  and  put  them  in  favorable  place 
to  grow.  The  potato  which  Magellan  found  in 
Brazil  was  not  fit  to  eat.  Now  it  feeds  half  the 
world;  and  I  can  pave  the  whole  world  with  gold." 

"  But,"  exclaimed  the  startled  stranger,  "  this 
discovery  will  upset  the  whole  commercial 
world." 

"  There  is  a  God,"  answered  his  companion> 
gravely  ;  "  and  this  discovery,  like  the  discovery 
of  America,  like  the  discovery  of  the  properties 
of  steam,  electricity,  all  great  and  good  things, 
came  in  its  full  season.  The  pursuit  of  wealth, 
like  the  ancient  pursuit  of  war,  has  had  its  uses 
176 


In  Her  Presence  at  Last 

as  well  as  its  abuses.  The  world  in  its  swift 
progress  is  fast  leaving  the  latter  far  behind, — 
though  there  are  still  those  who  think  the 
butchery  of  their  brothers  a  noble  pursuit  and  a 
fair  expression  of  that  law  of  nature  which  in 
sists  on  the  survival  of  the  fittest ;  and  it  may 
be  centuries  still  before  the  dull  and  unthinking 
masses  cease  to  regard  hoarding  as  the  highest 
and  chiefest  of  pursuits.  But  now,  since  we 
know  the  secret  of  making  gold  grow  in  the 
recesses  of  rocks,  as  mosses  grow  on  the  outside, 
they  will  no  longer  hoard  gold.  And  that  is  the 
death-blow  to  the  miser  and  the  money-lender. 
"  You  know,  when  gold  was  first  found  in 
California,  English  bankers  sent  commissions  to 
America,  urging  that  silver  only  be  made  the 
commercial  basis.  So  you  see  that  we  have 
only  to  find  gold  in  such  masses  as  we  have 
silver,  a  thing  still  possible,  even  in  the  moun 
tains  of  Russia  or  the  Americas,  to  destroy  it  as 
a  basis  of  trade.  And  ah,  what  a  triumph,  what 
a  day  of  emancipation  when  we  shall  proclaim 
our  discovery  to  the  world,  and  Russia  shall  let 
loose  her  millions  from  the  mines  in  the  Ural ; 
when  the  bravest  and  best  men  of  our  great 

ia  177 


"The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

land  shall  cease  to  destroy  rivers  and  forests  and 
come  out  from  the  Rocky  Mountain  caverns  to 
the  sun  and  the  plains  and — " 

"  And  commerce  shall  cease  ?  " 

"  Commerce,  in  its  best  estate,  will  begin." 

"  And  your  currency  ?  " 

"  Will  be  honor ;  as  it  is  now,  in  nine  cases 
out  of  ten,  nine  dollars  in  ten.  A  merchant  of 
long  standing  and  stainless  name  only  gives  his 
name,  his  cheque,  in  payment.  Is  a  nation  less 
than  a  man  ?  I  tell  you  that  commerce,  free 
and  open  interchange  between  men  and  nations, 
will  only  begin  when  honor  is  made  a  basis, 
instead  of  base  metal, — when  this  mighty  nation 
of  United  States  shall  say  to  the  nations  of  the 
earth,  as  it  said  to  its  own  people  in  the  great 
Civil  war,  Here  is  my  honor,  my  promise  to 
pay ;  I  have  done  with  shifting  and  varying 
values  that  wreck  and  impoverish  and  make 
miserable  my  people — " 

cc  But  if—  ?  " 

"  There  should  be  no  such  words.    We  have 
only  to  insist  on  it,  to  persist  in  it,  and  then  how 
eagerly  other  nations  will  follow  !  and  the  poet's 
dream,  c  the  federation  of  the  world ' !  " 
178 


XVIII.— Give  Us  This  Day  Our 
Daily  Bread 

THE  DAY  sat  by  with  banner  furled  ; 

His  battered  shield  hung  on  the  wall  5 
One  great  star  walked  the  upper  world, 

All  purple-robed,  in  Stately  Hall ; 
Some  unseen  reapers  gathered  golden  sheaves, 
The  skies  were  as  the  tree  of  life  in  yellow  leaves. 

God's  poor  of  Hebron  rested.      Then 

Straightway  unto  their  presence  drew 
A  captain  with  his  band  of  men 

And  smote  His  poor,  and  well-nigh  slew, 
Saying,  "  Hence,  ye  poor  !   Behold,  the  king  this  night 
Comes  forth  with  torch  and  dance  and  loud  delight." 

His  poor,  how  much  they  cared  to  see  ! 

How  begged  they,  prone,  to  see,  to  hear ! 
But  spake  the  captain  angrily, 

And  drove  them  forth  with  sword  and  spear, 
And  shut  the  gate  ;  and  when  the  king  passed  through, 
These  lonely  poor — they  knew  not  what  to  do. 

Lo,  then  a  soft- voiced  stranger  said  : 
"  Come  ye  with  me  a  little  space. 
I  know  where  torches  gold  and  red 
Gleam  down  a  peaceful,  ample  place  ; 
Where  song  and  perfume  fill  the  restful  air, 
And  men  speak  scarce  at  all.     The  King  is  there." 

They  passed  ;  they  sat  a  grass-set  hill — 

What  king  hath  carpets  like  to  this  ? 
What  king  hath  music  like  the  trill 

Of  crickets  'mid  these  silences — 
These  perfumed  silences,  that  rest  upon 
The  soul  like  sunlight  on  a  hill  at  dawn  ? 
179 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

Behold  what  blessings  in  the  air  ! 

What  benedictions  in  the  dew  ! 
These  olives  lift  their  arms  in  prayer ; 

They  turn  their  leaves,  God  reads  them  throtgh  j 
Yon  lilies  where  the  falling  water  sings 
Are  fairer-robed  than  choristers  of  kings. 

Lift  now  your  heads  !   yon  golden  bars 
That  build  the  porch  of  heaven,   seas 

Of  silver-sailing  golden  stars — 

Yea,  these  are  yours,  and  all  of  these  ! 

For  yonder  king  hath  never  yet  been  told 

Of  silver  seas  that  sail  these  ships  of  gold. 

They  turned,  they  raised  their  heads  on  high  ; 

They  saw,  the  first  time  saw  and  knew, 
The  awful  glories  of  the  sky, 

The  benedictions  of  the  dew  5 
And  from  that  day  His  poor  were  richer  far 
Than  all  such  kings  as  keep  where  follies  are. 

THE  stranger,  having  turned  aside  from 
the  meditative  priest,  felt  himself  drifting 
again  into  Miriam's  presence.  The  sun  had 
gone  down  ;  the  stars  were  out,  and  yet  it  was 
not  night,  or  at  least,  it  was  not  dark.  Light, 
light  everywhere  !  Not  jets  of  light,  like  gas, 
or  electric-lights,  but  level  sheets  of  light,  soft, 
large,  and  luminous  as  the  face  of  the  moon. 
But  more  of  this  hereafter. 

"  You  will  dine  with  us  now  ?  " 
He  wanted  to  say  that  he  would  like  to  sit 
and  hear  her  and  her  only,  forever  and  forever ; 
1 80 


Give  Us  This  Day  Our  Daily  Bread 

for  that  had  been  the  truth.  He  could  not 
have  dared  to  lie  to  her,  even  in  compliment ; 
but  he  assented  in  silence,  and  she  led  on 
through  the  luminous  woods  and  ways  of  glass. 
They  finally  entered  what  seemed  to  be  a 
grove,  with  a  great  table  reaching  far  down 
and  out  of  sight  under  broad-sweeping  leaves. 

He  sat  at  her  right  hand.  Grave  and  learned 
men,  beautiful  and  silent  women,  brown  and 
black  and  pearly  white,  were  here  and  there 
between  the  men,  like  fruit  among  the  foliage 
overhead. 

He  could  see  the  stars  and  the  moon  in  the 
blue  sky  through  the  leaves. 

"  What  will  you  do  if  it  rains  ?  " 

With  a  finger  partly  raised  to  her  lips,  for 
the  music  and  dancing  were  about  to  begin, 
she  said  kindly,  as  she  leaned  her  face  so  close 
to  his  that  he  breathed  the  perfume  of  her 
hair : 

u  The  sky  which  you  see  is  seen  through 
a  dome  of  glass." 

The  musicians,  some  distance  back  and  up 
in  the  boughs,  like  singing  birds,  were  not  of 
the  old  and  tired  type,  bald  and  exhausted  from 
181 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

bad  air  and  bad  lights,  and  broken  by  care  and 
anxiety;  they  were  ruddy  and  merry  and  full  of 
the  music  of  their  own  high  spirits, — girls  here, 
boys  there,  middle-aged  men  and  middle-aged 
women ;  yet  all  young,  young  with  the  eternal 
youth  of  love  and  content  and  kindliness. 

A  note  !  a  bar !  a  breath  of  warm  wind  in 
the  trees  !  Zephyrs  ?  birds  ?  ^Eolian  harps  ?  a 
far-off  call  of  cooling  waters  ?  What  was  it, 
and  what  did  it  all  mean  ? 

Can  you  conceive  of  silent  music  ?  Well, 
this  was  silent  music.  At  least  it  was  music 
without  noise.  We  need  say  no  more  now,  we 
might  be  misunderstood  were  we  to  say  less. 
It  was  music  without  the  noise  that  so  inso 
lently  attends  ordinary  music.  May  we  say  it 
was  noiseless  melody  ? 

It  was  not  the  music  of  the  civilized  city,  it 
was  the  new  music  of  the  new  order  that  is  to 
come, — the  wild,  free,  far-off,  and  effortless 
melody  of  the  desert  and  of  the  silent  children 
of  the  desert ;  of  love,  peace,  pleasure,  rest. 
Suddenly,  on  a  glass  stage  to  the  right  and  left 
and  among  the  great  banana-leaves  and  lofty 
ferns  with  fronded  palms  that  pushed  against 
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Give  Us  This  Day  Our  Daily  Bread 

the  sky  of  glass  in  heaven,  the  dancers  glided. 
And  they  too  were  noiseless,  and  they  glided  as 
if  in  the  air.  The  glass  was  so  perfect  that, 
like  the  artificial  sky  overhead,  it  was  invisible. 

To  and  fro,  forward,  back,  bowed  or  erect, 
singly  or  in  couples,  they  sang  and  sang  in  the 
movements  of  their  most  perfect  bodies.  The 
leaves  and  ferns  were  very  abundant  and  very 
broad,  and  these  dancing  girls  were  natural. 

Then  slowly  all  sound,  all  movement  of  all 
things  ceased.  Slowly  and  unobtrusively  a 
white-haired  man,  far  down  among  the  trees, 
rose  up  and  solemnly  bowed  his  head.  Then 
all  heads  were  bowed  with  his ;  each  one 
present  repeated  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  that 
was  all. 

As  he  took  his  seat,  a  beautiful  woman  arose 
and  slowly  proceeded  to  read  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount. 

Meantime  the  dinner  went  on  as  if  no 
stranger  were  present.  In  fact,  the  stranger 
was  not  allowed  to  feel  that  he  was  a  stranger. 

And  such  a  dinner! — such  milk  and  honey, 
such  fruits,  such  oils  !  Surely  the  wearied  man 
had  come  at  last  upon  the  land  of  milk  and 
183 


"The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

honey.  The  Lord  had  surely  led  him  through 
the  green  pastures  by  the  still  waters. 

And  what  a  continual  melody  of  melodies, 
even  after  the  girls  had  melted  away  one  by  one 
from  among  the  ferns  and  banana-leaves,  and 
the  musicians  and  all  had  settled  into  place  at 
table! — a  sort  of  melodious  silence!  No  rattling 
of  knives  on  rattling  plates,  in  the  carving  and 
handling  and  mutilation  of  meats,  no  coming  and 
going  of  servants ;  no  rattling  and  rasping  of 
feet  on  marble  floors  ;  they  sat  with  their  feet  on 
the  soft,  white,  natural  sands  of  the  desert. 

But  this  one  dining-hall,  or  temple  to 
melody,  was  only  an  example  of  a  constantly 
increasing  number  of  a  similar  and  yet  very 
dissimilar  character ;  for  while  the  people  had 
their  individual  homes,  they  loved  to  come 
often  to  these  pleasant  dining-clubs  or  halls. 

This  dining-hall  which  was  devoted  to  seri 
ous  themes,  and  was  preferred  by  venerable  men 
and  women  of  earnest  thought,  was  a  smaller 
and  less  pretentious  place.  Yet  even  here, 
peace,  repose,  the  perfect  good-manners,  a  low 
voice,  an  equanimity  of  soul  and  serenity  of  all 
things,  all  things  keeping  harmonious  melody 
184 


Give  Us  This  Day  Our  Daily  Bread 

with    lisping    leaves   overhead    and    soft,  warm 
sands  underfoot. 

The  hall  where  the  men  and  women  who 
were  entirely  devoted  to  science  loved  to  meet 
and  dine  was  also  peculiar  to  itself,  as  were 
those  of  poetry  and  painting.  But  each  and  all 
had  this  dominating  preference  for  nature's 
harmony  of  color,  harmony  of  source,  harmony 
of  soul. 

And  now  let  us  mention  one  thing  here 
before  it  is  quite  forgotten.  He  had  been  here 
many  days,  had  sat  at  many  dinners ;  yet  one 
day,  when  passing  with  an  English  clergy 
man  through  a  herd  of  fat  cattle,  he  suddenly 
remembered  that  he  had  not  tasted  roast-beef 
since  coming  to  the  place. 

u  You  have  not  tasted  roast-beef  nor  any 
other  kind  of  meat.  Olive-oil,  butter,  eggs, 
cream,  and  so  on,  have  been  your  closest 
approach  to  meat-eating,"  said  the  good  man, 
smiling. 

"  And  you  do  not  eat  animal  food  ?  " 

u  We  do  not  want  animal  food  here,  and  we 
do  not  need  animal  food  here ;  and  so,  of 
185 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

course,  we  do  not  eat  our  sleek  and  mild-eyed 
companions." 

"  Of  what  use,  then,  are  your  herds  ?  " 

"  For  milk,  butter,  cheese  ;  besides  that,  when 
these  cattle  grow  so  old  that  they  are  helpless, 
they  are  driven  to  a  remote  place  and  relieved 
of  life  by  a  painless  death  j  then  we  permit  our 
selves  to  use  their  hides." 

u  Yes,  you  must  have  shoes." 

"  Not  at  all  necessary,  not  at  all.  Did  ever 
man  see  such  pretty  feet  as  Indian  women 
have  ?  There  have  never  been  seen  on  earth 
such  small  and  pretty  feet  as  the  American 
Indian  women  have  always  had.  And  yet  they, 
even  in  the  North,  are  and  have  always  been,  so 
far  as  possible,  a  barefooted  people.  And  here  it 
is  not  only  possible  for  our  women  as  well  as 
men  to  go  barefooted,  but  it  is  even  desirable  for 
comfort.  No,  we  do  not  really  need  much 
leather  here,"  added  he.  "  Now,  when  I  work 
in  the  field—" 

In  his  surprise  at  the  idea  of  the  Established 

Churchman  working  in  the  fields  the  stranger  must 

have  suddenly  turned  his  head  ;  for  he  looked  at 

him  inquiringly  for  a  second  and  then  continued  : 

186 


Give  Us  This  Day  Our  Daily  Bread 

"  As  I  was  going  on  to  say,  when  I  work  in  the 
fields  I  always  go  barefooted,  for  I  like  the  touch 
of  the  soft  soil  and  the  warm  sand.  It  makes 
my  blood  run  like  wine,  and  I  live  in  my  feet 
as  well  as  in  my  head  at  such  a  time.  My 
wife,  however,  still  wears  shoes  when  she  does 
her  weaving  or  spinning." 

"  Your  wife  ?  weaving  ?  Pardon  me,  you 
are  jesting." 

"  Nay,  you  shall  see  her  at  her  weaving 
some  day,  and  soon.  With  us  the  abolition 
of  all  special  privileges  has  made  it  necessary 
for  all  to  toil.  But  when  all  men  toil,  no  man 
need  work  hard  or  beyond  his  strength.  Work, 
in  fact,  has  become  a  recreation,  a  necessity  of 
perfect  enjoyment." 

"  But  even  when  all  toil,  work  must  be  a 
hardship." 

"  Not  at  all.  Two  hours  a  day  at  any 
employment  will  support  one  nicely." 

u  But  do  the  rich  work  also  ?  What  pres 
sure  brings  them  to  toil  ?  " 

"  There  are  no  rich  in  the  sense  in  which 
you  use  the  word.  Of  course  some  men  care 
more  for  wealth  than  others,  but  as  they  must 
187 


'The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

earn  it  they  must  work  for  it.  The  State  does 
not  equalize  possessions,  but  it  equalizes  oppor 
tunities  ;  and  there  are  no  wide  differences  in 
possessions  such  as  the  outside  world  shows. 
Ponder  well  on  this,  my  son.  Inequalities  in 
condition  are  born  out  of  special  favors  granted 
by  the  State  to  a  few.  There  are  two  ways 
to  cure  this  evil :  Extend  the  same  favors  to  all, 
or  withhold  them  from  the  few.  We  believe 
in  the  latter  method,  which  is  more  truly  in 
harmony  with  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
With  us,  possession  is  dependent  upon  personal 
toil  or  the  free  gift  of  friendship." 

The  man  pondered.  "  It  is  wonderfully  simple, 
but  it  does  not  get  back  of  natural  differences." 

u  We  do  not  propose  to  question  nature," 
said  the  preacher,  with  a  lofty  look  on  his  face. 
"  The  powers  of  the  human  brain  are  infinitely 
varied.  The  dullard  in  one  direction  may  be 
wondrously  skilful  in  another.  Men  differ 
from  each  other  very  little  more  than  birds  of 
the  same  species.  Equality  of  chance  will 
prove  this.  Freedom  is  the  magic  word,  and 
has  been  through  all  ages.  We  are  nearing  the 
fulfilment  of  its  prophecy." 
188 


Give  Us  This  Day  Our  Daily  Bread 

The  man  now  spoke  hesitatingly ;  he  had 
another  question  to  ask  : 

"  But  are  there  not  unpleasant  tasks  which 
all  shirk  ?  Is  not  some  force  necessary  ?  " 

"  I  see  the  question,"  said  the  preacher. 
"  There  is  no  force  in  our  colony  to  control  the 
action  of  the  individual,  save  only  when  the  action 
interferes  with  the  equal  freedom  of  the  rest. 
We  have  no  slaves  on  whom  to  throw  our  menial 
tasks.  All  menial  service  has  disappeared." 

"  But  there  must  be  unpleasant  tasks,"  per 
sisted  the  man. 

"  There  were  at  first ;  but  as  all  were  free  to 
do  them  or  not,  the  most  unpleasant  soon 
commanded  the  highest  wages,  and  the  em 
ployers  were  forced  to  abolish  them  altogether 
or  make  them  pleasant.  It  was  marvelous  how 
soon  invention  turned  itself  in  the  direction  of 
making  heavy  tasks  light,  and  changing  or 
abolishing  whole  industries.  'Any  industry 
which  depends  upon  the  slavery  of  a  single  one 
of  my  people,'  said  our  great  leader,  '  will  be 
abolished,  because  all  my  people  must  be  free.' 
This  law  of  freedom  has  made  every  mine  light 
as  day,  every  factory  silent  and  sunny,  and 
189 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

every  menial  task  a  source  of    forward  move 
ment,  freedom  to  freemen." 

The  good  man's  face  glowed  as  he  spoke. 
His  smile  had  tender  sympathy  in  it. 

The  man  caught  at  the  preacher's  arm : 
"  Tell  me  more  !  "  he  cried.  "  The  light  is 
breaking  for  me." 

"  Go  see  for  yourself,"  smiled  the  clergyman. 
"  You  will  not  find  one  noisome  workshop,  not 
one  dark  and  damp  mine,  nor  one  furnace-like 
place  of  toil  in  the  city.  There  will  be  a  lack 
of  many  things  which  have  been  considered 
necessary  to  civilization  ;  but  we  say  that  any 
industry  or  enterprise  which  is  based  upon  the 
enforced  toil  of  our  fellow-men  is  not  civiliza 
tion  ;  it  is  the  infamy  of  civilization.  Come 
with  me.  You  will  not  find  a  toil-worn  face, 
nor  a  gnarled  and  trembling,  work-scarred  hand 
in  this  city  of  ours.  Every  man,  woman,  and 
child  in  this  colony  can  throw  the  head  back 
and  laugh  with  joy  of  life  and  an  unclouded 
future.  Come — to  see  is  to  be  convinced." 

The  bewildered  man  rose  and  followed.     "  It 
is  like  the  law  of  gravity,  it  reaches  everywhere, 
this  law  of  equal  freedom." 
190 


XIX.— The  Toil  of  God 

BEHOLD  the  silvered  mists  that  rise 

From  all-night  toiling  in  the  corn. 
The  mists  have  duties  up  the  skies, 

The  skies  have  duties  with  the  morn  5 
While  all  the  world  is  full  of  earnest  care 
To  make  the  fair  world  still  more  wondrous  fair, 

More  lordly  fair  ;  the  stately  morn 

Moves  down  the  walk  of  golden  wheat ; 

Her  guards  of  honor  gild  the  corn 
In  golden  pathway  for  her  feet  j 

The  purpled  hills  she  crowns  in  crowns  of  gold, 

And  God  walks  with  us  as  He  walked  of  old. 

Ai,  the  mother's  love  here  !   the  lover's  love 
here  !  the  love  in  the  hearts  of  all  here  ! 
the  God  in  the  hearts  of  all ! 

Our  unfortunate  city-builder,  who  had 
wrought  so  hard  on  his  mountain-side  by  the 
sea  and  yet  had  failed  so  signally,  sought  out,  at 
every  opportunity,  the  silent  and  wonderful 
woman  who  had  done  all  this  since  they  parted 
in  Egypt.  He  wanted  to  sit  at  her  feet  and 
learn.  How  helpless  he  was,  he  now  began  to 
know  too  well.  Would  she  only  teach  him,  tell 
him  how  to  go  on  ! 

191 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

They  sat  one  day  by  the  fountain  in  the 
Toltec  ruins.  The  birds  were  busy,  the  bees 
were  busy. 

"  Yes,  it  is  always  just  like  that  here,"  she 
said  at  length.  "  We  all  work  together  and 
bring  our  sweets  to  the  common  hive, — not 
because  of  law,  but  because  of  liberty." 

He  bowed  his  head  in  meditation  for  a 
time,  then  said  : 

"  You  have  succeeded,  I  have  failed.  It 
is  but  right  that  you  tell  me  why  it  is  that  I, 
the  strong  man,  should  have  failed,  while  you, 
the  woman,  and  not  so  strong  in  body,  suc 
ceeded.  You  will  tell  me  ?  " 

After  some  hesitation  she  began  and  went  on 
slowly ;  for  she  was  very  far  from  strong : 

"  In  the  first  place  you  failed  by  tempting 
men  to  leave  you  and  turn  back  to  the  task 
masters  and  the  flesh-pots  of  Egypt.  Why,  had 
Moses  himself  set  his  children  down  on  a 
mountain-side  in  sight  of  some  beautiful  city 
and  offered  them  the  choice  to  stay  or  go,  how 
many  would  have  remained  with  him  and  gone 
forward  to  build  Jerusalem  ?  William  the 
Conqueror  burned  his  ships  behind  him,  and 
192 


The  Toil  of  God 

so  kept  his  sixty  thousand  at  his  side.  Even 
the  Pilgrim  Fathers  would  have  returned,  could 
they  have  consistently  done  so,  as  William 
Penn  returned." 

There  was  a  long  silence.  The  bees  and  the 
birds  and  the  grasshoppers  that  sung  in  the 
grass  at  their  feet  had  it  all  their  own  way. 
Then  she  went  on  : 

u  No,  we  here,  removed  from  almost  every 
temptation,  do  not  allow  ourselves  to  come  and 
go  and  evade  the  first  great  law  of  God  that 
you  allowed  to  the  lowest  of  the  low,  the 
weakest  of  the  weak,  and  in  the  midst  of  every 
temptation." 

"  And  that  first  great  law  of  God  is —  ?  " 

" '  In  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat 
bread  till  thou  returnest  to  the  ground.'  " 

He  caught  his  breath  and  said :  "  Why,  I 
thought  the  first  great  law  of  God  was  the  love 
of  God  and  to  '  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself.' J 

"  Hear  me,  hear  me,"  she  said.  "  The  very 
first,  last  words  of  God  to  man,  as  the  gates  of 
Paradise  closed  behind,  were  these :  '  In  the 
sweat  of  thy  face — not  in  the  sweat  of  the  face 
of  another — shalt  thou  eat  bread  till  thou 

'3  193 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

returnest  to  the  ground ' ;  and  we  search  the 
Bible  in  vain  for  any  single  exception  in  favor 
of  any  human  being,  be  he  priest,  prophet, 
president,  or  king.  Why,  even  the  emperor  of 
the  heathen  Mongol  must  plow  and  sow  his 
field  in  the  sweat  of  his  face.  And  so  firmly 
fixed  is  this  law  of  God,  established  in  the  laws 
of  nature,  that  the  experience  of  six  thousand 
years  testifies  that  this  is  the  only  path  to  per 
fect  health.  This  is  a  positive  law,  the  first 
law,  and  a  positive  law  that  admits  of  no  equiv 
ocation.  It  fell  from  the  voice  of  God  cen 
turies  before  Moses  reached  up  his  hands  to 
receive  the  tablets  where  His  finger,  amid  thun 
der  and  flame,  had  traced  the  negative  laws  of 
the  Decalogue." 

"  The  negative  laws  ?  " 

"  As  I  said  before,  this  one  first  law,  that  thou 
shalt  eat  thy  bread  in  the  sweat  of  thy  face,  is  a 
positive  law.  The  Decalogue  is  almost  entirely 
negative.  But  only  let  the  one,  first,  great  com 
mand  be  strictly  observed  and  the  Decalogue 
will  never  be  broken.  It  is  the  one  continual 
effort  to  escape  this  one  first  command  that  brings 
man  in  collision  with  the  laws  of  Sinai.  As  for 
194 


The  Toil  of  God 

the  law  of  love,  it  is  as  natural  as  nature;  though 
the  true  reading  is  not  as  you  read  it.  After 
the  love  of  God,  which  is  inseparable  from  all 
goodness,  you  are  commanded  to  '  love  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself.'  Do  you  understand  ?  " 

"Certainly,  and  so  I  have  tried  and  tried  to 
do." 

"  But  have  you  not  tried  to  love  him  more  ? 
Mark  you,  you  are  to  '  love  thy  neighbor  as 
thyself  ;  not  more  than  thyself,  but  as  thyself. 
Now  as  you  love  the  good  that  is  in  you,  so 
shall  you  love  the  good  that  is  in  your  neighbor ; 
as  you  hate  the  evil  that  is  in  you,  so  shall  you 
hate  and  abhor  the  evil  that  is  in  your  neigh 
bor, — yea,  hate  it  and  abhor  it." 

A  long  time  he  held  his  head  low  in  thought 
now,  and  she  sat  listening  to  the  birds,  bees, 
grasshoppers,  God.  Then  he  said  : 

"  Why  may  not  any  resolute  souls,  if  wise 
enough  and  strong  enough,  step  out  from  the 
world  and  into  this  unpeopled  middle-land,  any 
where,  anywhere  from  here  up  to  Canada,  or 
even  down  to  Patagonia,  and  do  much  as  you 
have  done  here,  with  this  example  of  yours 
before  them  ? " 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

u  It  should  be  done  and  it  will  be  done,  over 
and  over  again.  The  mistake  has  been  in 
man's  not  believing  in  man.  Man  has  said 
man  is  bad  ;  kings,  politicians,  creedists,  have 
kept  man  arrayed  against  man  since  the  dawn  of 
history.  To-day  Europe  keeps  millions  and 
millions  of  men  standing  with  guns  and  swords 
in  hand  to  slay  their  brothers — Christians ! 
But  this  nation  has  grown  beyond  that ;  and 
now  the  people  of  this  city  have  grown  beyond 
the  idle  lawyers,  idle  politicians,  and  idle 
creedists  who  continually  tell  us  that  man  is 
bad,  evil,  weak,  worthless,  and  cannot  be 
trusted  to  go  forth  from  slavery,  as  Moses  went 
forth  to  found  his  own  city  in  the  wilderness." 

"  Then  I  shall  abandon  my  mountain-side 
above  the  city,  and  lead  my  people  as  Moses  led 
his  people,  and  build  my  city  in  the  wilderness 
as  you  have  built  yours." 

He  was  very  much  in  earnest,  but  she  raised 
her  thin  hand  in  protest  as  she  said : 

"  No ;  c  what   man   putteth  his  hand  to  the 

plough  and  looketh  back  ? '      Go  forward  to  the 

end  as  you  began.     An  example  of  great  effort, 

even  a  great  failure,  is  worth  much  to  the  world 

196 


The  Toil  of  God 

now.  The  foundations  of  cities  planted  by 
man  in  mud  and  malaria  are  shaken.  Take 
New  York,  for  example,  once  a  small  city  of 
great  men,  now  a  great  city  of  small  men,  who 
contend  and  strive  and  struggle ;  a  city  con 
tinually  divided  against  itself.  And  so  we  know 
that  it  shall  one  day  have  no  place  on  the  map 
of  the  world.  No,  not  wars  or  earthquakes, 
nothing  of  that  sort  as  of  old  when  walls  were 
built,  but  that  lowest  of  all  low  pursuits  and  the 
coarsest  of  all  human  qualities,  commerce, 
money-getting, — this  is  in  her  heart  to  her 
ruin  ;  this  is  the  baneful  wooden  horse  hold 
ing  destruction  within. 

"  You  should  not  have  planted  entirely  for 
profit.  Go  back  and  plant  as  God  planted. 
Remember  the  Bible  says  :  c  And  the  Lord  God 
planted  a  garden  eastward  in  Eden  wherein  he 
caused  to  grow  every  tree  that  is  pleasant  to  the 
sight  and  good  for  food.' 

"  Observe  that  the  trees  '  pleasant  to  the 
sight,'  came  first.  Far  back  in  the  morning  of 
the  world,  before  man  was,  God  planted  a  gar 
den  in  which  the  beautiful,  c  pleasant  to  the 
sight,'  was  preferred  to  the  useful,  that  which  is 
197 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

good  for  food.  Yet  man  in  his  arrogant  domain 
over  the  earth  is  ever  ready  to  destroy  that 
which  is  pleasant  to  the  sight  and  set  up  in  its 
place  that  which  is  good  for  food. 

"  Man  seems  to  think  that  the  trees  were 
made  for  man.  The  truth  is  man  was  made 
for  the  trees.  The  trees  came  in  the  order  of 
creation  on  the  third  day,  age  or  cycle,  while 
man  was  left  to  the  very  last.  Man  was  never 
thought  of  until  long  after  the  trees  were  in  full 
glory.  Long  after,  ages  perhaps,  after  the 
planting  of  the  garden  eastward  in  Eden  man 
was  created.  Man  was  created  for  the  express 
purpose  of  taking  care  of  the  trees  pleasant  to 
the  sight  and  good  for  food.  He  was  placed 
4  in  the  garden  to  tend  it  and  to  keep 
it.'  It  looks  as  if  man  might  have  been 
quite  forgotten  had  he  not  been  needed  to 
take  care  of  the  trees  in  '  the  garden  eastward 
in  Eden.' 

u  We  are  in  the  habit  of  calling  this  Pacific 
sea-bank,  this  garden  with  its  white  wall  of 
snow  and  world  of  trees  pleasant  to  the  sight, 
the  new  garden  of  Eden.  Yet  we  fly  right  in 
the  face  of  Holy  Writ,  God,  Nature,  and  strip 
198 


The  Toil  of  God 

our  garden  and  sell  the  garments  of  our  good 
Mother  Earth  for  gold. 

"  There  is  nothing  plainer  in  all  the  pages  of 
the  Bible  than  the  truth,  that  man  was  made 
to  tend  and  keep  the  trees.  There  is  nothing 
truer  in  all  the  pages  of  history  than  that 
where  man  destroyed  the  trees  he  himself  has 
been  destroyed. 

"  America  owes  ever  so  much  to  the  Indians 
for  their  care  and  skill  in  forestry.  But  for  the 
savage,  so-called,  we  would  have  found  but  a 
barren  waste  along  the  Atlantic  sea-bank.  One 
of  the  oldest  books  touching  on  American  for 
ests,  in  the  British  Museum,  has  this  statement 
in  quaint  old  English,  that '  the  squats  (squaws  ?) 
do  in  the  moist  St.  Martin's,  summertime,  when 
the  leaves  have  fallen,  set  fire  to  the  leaves,  and 
so  do  not  only  prevent  great  fires  in  the  dry 
season,  but  they  do  burn  away  the  underwood 
so  that  you  may  ride  to  the  hounds  Nas  in  an 
English  park.' 

"  When  the  great  American  poet  comes  he  will 

lift  his  face  to  the  trees  that  are  pleasant  to  the 

sight  and  sing  as  never  sang  man  since  the  seers 

of  old,  who  saw  and  knew  the  Cedars  of  Lebanon. 

199 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

"  Consider  if  you  can  the  sublime,  the  simple, 
imperial  dignity  of  a  single  great  tree  that  is 
pleasant  to  the  sight,  and  there  is  no  tree  great 
or  small  that  is  not  pleasant  to  the  sight ;  front 
ing  the  four  winds  of  Heaven,  sun  or  rain, 
flame  or  frost,  lifting  his  arms  in  attitude  of 
prayer  through  all  the  centuries,  drawing  his 
shapely  presence  up  and  up  and  up,  his  thous 
ands  tons  of  weight.  By  what  hard  and  terri 
ble  toil  we  may  not  know,  but  we  must  surely 
know  that  there  can  be  no  hard  toil,  no  weighty 
work  like  the  work  of  a  great  tree  to  climb  up 
and  up  and  up  toward  the  sun  through  all  the 
battling  elements  and  to  hold  his  place  there,  as 
if  to  prop  the  very  porch  of  Heaven,  the 
House  of  Him  who  caused  '  every  tree  to  grow 
that  is  pleasant  to  the  sight.' 

"  And  when  the  great  tree  falls,  observe 
that  it  is  not  in  battle,  not  in  storm,  but  in  days 
of  absolute  calm  and  stillness.  It  is  very 
strange,  but  only  in  days  of  calm  can  you 
hear  the  thunder  of  a  falling  King  of  the 
forest.  And  how  he  falls,  an  emperor  to  the 
last,  silent  as  Caesar. 

"  You  will  stay  on  your  steeps  of  stone  to 


The  Toil  of  God 

the  end,  planting  and  planting  till  you  have  a 
forest  of  trees  c  pleasant  to  the  sight.'  You 
will  make  pleasant  resting-places  for  the  poor 
who  will  come  from  out  the  city  for  a  breath 
of  air.  You  will  give  work  to  the  poor  by 
heaping  of  the  stones  into  towers,  pyramids, 
monuments  to  love.  These  white  tombs  and 
towers  bursting  up  through  your  green  forest 
will  be  beautiful,  beautiful,  so  beautiful  that 
people  will  want  to  rest  there  and  rest  there. 
Give  them  a  place  to  rest,  the  living  and  the 
dead." 

"  Yes,  yes  ;  I  will.  But  what  a  miracle  has 
been  wrought  here  !  " 

"  It  is  not  a  miracle,"  she  hastened  to  say ; 
"  I  simply  removed  all  friction.  As  for  that 
stupendous  work  which  is  being  done,"  and  she 
lifted  her  face  toward  the  glittering  sea  of  spires 
and  towers  beyond,  "  it  has  cost  scarcely  a 
thought ;  and  it  has  cost  no  man  any  waste  of 
time.  The  eminent  humanitarians  who  gath 
ered  about  me  here  had  time,  as  never  before  in 
the  history  of  man,  to  really  think,  and  really  be 
humanitarians.  There  was  an  old  mercenary  say 
ing  that  time  is  money.  We  esteem  the  man 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

who  saves  time  to  man  as  the  only  real 
millionaire.  He  is  not  only  a  millionaire,  he  is 
the  emancipator  of  the  human  race." 

u  Yet  Ruskin  has  said  that  man  should  first 
set  man  to  work,  then  the  cattle,  then  the 
machine." 

"  Yes,  and  Morris  taught  that  we  should 
turn  back  to  the  old  pastoral  times,  and  live  as 
the  shepherds  lived."  She  said  this  with  a  sad 
shake  of  the  head.  "  Why,  this,"  she  went  on, 
"  is  like  as  if  the  two  great  captains  of  Moses 
had  turned  back  to  the  flesh-pots  of  Egypt. 
But  at  the  same  time  these  teachings  show  us 
that  the  world  is  ripe,  ready  for  open  revolt 
against  the  hard  and  bitter  conditions  of  its 
people." 

She  paused,  and  he  took  the  occasion  offered 
to  look  her  in  the  face,  and  with  bitter  remem 
brances  ask  her  again  why  he  had  failed  so  sadly; 
why  his  long  endeavor  to  build  up  a  city  on  the 
mountain-side  should  have  been  so  despised ;  for 
he  felt  she  had  not  told  all. 

At  last  she  said  slowly,  sadly  :  "  Why,  then, 
in  the  second  place,  you  failed  because  of  your 
vanity,  your  painful  and  most  pitiful  vanity." 


The  Toil  of  God 

The  sudden  flush  of  pain  that  swept  over  his 
face  as  his  eyes  fell  before  her  told  how  truly 
the  probe  had  gone  to  the  heart,  and  how 
necessary  was  the  cruel  surgery.  After  a  pause, 
and  leaning  forward  her  face,  she  said  in  the 
kindest  and  most  pitying  manner : 

"  Your  vanity  made  you  choose  a  conspicuous 
place,  where  you  could  daily  proclaim  from  your 
housetop  how  good  and  humble  and  industrious 
and  unselfish  you  were.  You  thrust  yourself 
and  your  new  ideas  in  the  midst  of  hard 
men  who  had  but  the  one  old  idea  of  getting 
and  getting ;  and  then  you  proclaimed  by  word 
and  deed  that  if  a  man  smote  the  one  cheek 
you  would  cheerfully  turn  the  other,  and  that  if 
a  man  took  from  you  one  garment  you  would 
not  only  give  another,  but  the  whole  suit ;  and 
so,  right  in  the  face  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  you 
led  men  into  temptation." 

The  weight  of  her  truth  bowed  his  head  low 
before  her  once  more ;  for  he  saw  that  he  had, 
after  all,  been  but  a  boastful  Pharisee.  Finally 
she  went  on  : 

"  The  world  is  dotted  all  over  with  good  men 
who  are  trying  to  do  good  in  secret ;  but  he 
ao3 


'The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

who  proclaims  it, — c  verily,  he  bath  his  reward.' 
Yet  go  forward.  You  have  not  failed ;  you 
only  have  not  yet  succeeded." 

Then  from  far  away,  as  if  from  that  other 
world,  came  her  words,  His  words  :  u  Be  ye  wise 
as  serpents,  but  as  harmless  as  doves.  .  .  . 
I  leave  my  peace  with  you." 


204 


XX. — When  Man  is  Not  Watching 
Man 

I  THINK  the  bees,  the  blessed  bees, 

Are  better,  wiser  far  than  we. 
The  very  wild  birds  in  the  trees 

Are  wiser  far,  it  seems  to  me  ; 
For  love  and  light  and  sun  and  air 
Are  theirs,  and  not  a  bit  of  care. 

What  bird  makes  claim  to  all  God's  trees  ? 

What  bee  makes  claim  to  all  God's  flowers  ? 
Behold  their  perfect  harmonies, 

Their  common  hoard,  the  common  hours  ! 
Say,  why  should  man  be  less  than  these, 
The  happy  birds,  the  hoarding  bees  ? 

The  birds  ?     What  bird  hath  envied  bird 
That  he  sings  on  as  God  hath  willed  ? 

Yet  man — what  song  of  man  is  heard 
But  he  is  stoned,  or  cursed,  or  killed  ? 

Thank  God,  sweet  singers  of  the  air, 

No  sparrow  falls  without  his  care. 

O,  brown  bee  in  your  honey-house  ! 

Could  we  like  you  but  find  it  best 
To  common  build  and  peace  espouse, 

To  common  toil,  to  common  rest, 
To  common  share  our  sweets  with  men — 
We  surely  would  be  better  then. 

"HT^HREE  other  things   I  constantly  wonder 
A      at    here,"  was    his    remark    to    her    one 
morning :     "  The    marvelous    growth    of   your 
205 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

groves ;     the    law    and    order ;     and    the    large 
intelligence  of  your  people." 

"  In  the  first  place,  to  answer  you  in  order, 
we  have  here  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  days 
in  the  year,  in  which  to  toil,  fashion,  build. 
Besides  that,  these  trees,  plants,  cereals,  and  all 
things  that  spring  from  the  earth,  have  twelve 
full  and  fervid  months  in  which  to  grow,  while 
in  most  places  they  have  but  four,  six,  or  seven 
at  the  farthest.  So  you  see  that  we  have  three 
or  four  times  as  many  days  and  months  in  the 
year  here  as  in  many  places.  All  that  this 
desert,  so-called,  was  waiting  for  came  when  we 
brought  the  rain  and  led  the  water  down  from 
the  trout-streams  or  up  from  our  artesian  wells. 
The  water  followed  these  channels  and  furrows 
down  through  the  dust  and  mud,  the  dust  was 
watered,  the  mud  was  drained,  all  by  means  of 
this  same  force,  and  in  this  same  furrow  we 
planted  the  banana-slip,  the  olive-branch,  the 
mulberry-tree,  and  all  other  sorts  of  trees  from 
all  lands.  Then  we  had  only  to  widen  and 
duplicate  the  furrows,  and  sow  them  with  rice, 
then  dam  the  furrow,  and  it  was  flooded  and 
brought  to  perfection  without  further  effort. 
206 


When  Man  is  Not  Watching  Man 

Cane,  wheat,  maize,  all  things  under  the  sun  in 
fact,  came  to  us  and  nourished  us  almost  with 
out  a  stroke  or  a  bit  of  help  from  our  hands. 
And  now  here  is  one  thing  I  must  beg  you  to 
note  distinctly.  We  not  only  have  had  all  the 
time  that  God  has  given  us  because  of  a  kindly 
clime,  but  we  have  husbanded  it.  We  have 
cherished  and  housed  and  husbanded  time  as 
others  do  gold." 

He  looked  into  her  face  inquiringly. 

"  I  will  explain,"  she  said.  "  Civilized  man, 
so-called,  spends  his  time  in  watching  his  fel 
low-man.  How  many  men  in  eleven  are  really 
at  work  ?  One  !  Yes,  in  the  greatest  city  of 
earth,  London,  it  takes  ten  men  to  watch  and 
keep  that  one  man  at  work.  In  the  country 
the  proportion  of  workers  and  watchers  is 
about  evenly  divided.  Sometimes  these  English 
take  it  into  their  heads  to  hang  one  of  their 
number.  They  actually  spend  a  lifetime,  or 
or  what  would  fully  aggregate  a  long  lifetime, 
in  taking  that  one  man's  life.  But  we  have  no 
bankers,  no  landlords,  no  brokers,  no  soldiers, 
no  jailers,  no  idlers  indeed  of  any  sort  set  to 
watch  ourselves.  So  you  see  we  have  to  our- 
207 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

selves  all  the  time  that  God  and  a  genial  clime 
can  give.  And  this  answers,  in  some  sort,  at 
least,  your  first  inquiry. 

"As  for  the  second,  our  law  and  order,  we 
found  that  here,  here  with  the  savages,  so-called. 
It  is  true  they  had  only  the  germ  ;  we  have  given 
the  germ  growth.  They  had  laid  the  keel  of 
our  ship  of  State ;  we  have  helped  to  launch  it, 
that  is  all.  You  see  the  Indian  is  and  always 
was,"  she  went  on,  "  the  truest  and  most  per 
fect  communist.  All  the  lands,  horses,  products 
of  the  fields  and  chase,  everything  but  the  bow 
in  his  hand,  was  as  much  the  property  of  his 
brother  as  himself.  And  so  there  was  no  steal 
ing  ;  there  was  no  temptation  to  robbery  or 
murder  for  money  or  property.  With  this  mill 
stone  of  temptation  taken  from  about  a  man's 
neck,  see  how  tall  and  erect  he  would  stand  ! 
Take  away  the  temptation  to  lie  from  the  clerk 
who  sells  goods,  from  the  grocery-man,  the 
politician,  all  people,  in  fact,  who  live  in  idleness 
upon  the  toil  of  others,  and  see  what  a  long  and 
a  strong  step  forward  man  has  made,  and  how 
little  friction  will  then  be  found  in  the  machine 
of  law  and  order.  We  have  conserved  all  that 
208 


When  Man  is  Not  Watching  Man 

was  good  in  the  Indian's  life,  and  discarded  that 
which  was  outgrown.  We  have  continued  the 
common  ownership  of  nature's  storehouse,  and 
left  to  the  individual  the  fruit  of  his  own  toil. 

"And  now  as  to  the  third  object  of  your 
wonder,"  she  said.  "  We  had,  as  you  well 
know,  long  contemplated  a  colony  in  Palestine, 
but  we  finally  saw  that  this  would  be  only  a 
garden  for  the  thistles,  and  when  the  crisis  came 
we  were  quite  ready. 

u  I  had  at  hand  the  material  for  the  new  order 
of  things,  so  far  as  brave  hearts  and  ready  hands 
could  make  it.  All  we  had  to  do  was  to  trans 
fer  ourselves  to  the  spot  where  we  were  to  set 
up  our  tabernacle  of  pure  worship,  like  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers.  True,  we  were  not  nearly  so 
numerous  then  as  now,  but  all  the  time  our 
friends  have  been  coming ;  and  now,  of  course, 
since  all  things  flourish  so  wonderfully,  they 
will  come  in  astonishing  numbers.  And  they 
will  be,  as  they  have  been  from  the  first,  of  the 
very  best, — men  and  women  who  believe  in 
man  and  his  glorious  destiny ;  men  and  women 
who  care  for  man,  and  are  content  to  let  God 
take  care  of  himself  j  men  and  women  who 
14  209 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

dare  not  presume  to  speak  for  God,  but  keep 
silent  and  let  him  speak  for  himself;  men  and 
women  who  devoutly  adore  all  that  is  good  and 
beautiful, — lovers,  believers  ;  men  and  women 
who  here  have  time  to  meditate  and  see  more 
clearly ;  men  and  women  who  with  that  dignity 
of  soul  which  is  the  only  true  humility,  and 
that  humility  of  soul  which  is  the  only  true 
dignity,  begin  to  see,  and  to  say  lovingly,  one  to 
another :  '  The  Infinite  God  is  "  the  aggregate 


XXI. — Lessons  Not  In  Books 

MAN'S  books  are  but  man's  alphabet ; 

Beyond  and  on  his  lessons  lie — 
The  lessons  of  the  violet, 

The  large,  gold  letters  of  the  sky. 

ONE  day,  in  his  quiet  rounds  through  this 
new  Eden  on  earth,  and  when  quite  alone, 
he  came  upon  a  group  of  gray-haired  and  serene 
men  and  women  of  most  venerable  aspect. 
They  were  gathered  in  a  grove  by  a  fountain 
near  a  field  of  corn.  Not  far  away  were  herds 
of  cattle  ruminating  on  the  sloping  brown  hills. 
Farther  on  and  still  up  toward  the  higher  land 
were  flocks  of  sheep  under  the  yellow  pines, 
white  and  restful  as  summer  clouds. 

As  he  approached  this  quiet  group  of  vener 
able  people,  they,  rather  by  act  than  word,  made 
him  one  of  their  number,  and  he  sat  down  in 
silence  on  a  little  hillock  of  wild  grass  in  the 
shadow  of  a  broad  palm-tree. 

How  perfectly  serene,  how  entirely  satisfied 
they  all  seemed  !  how  unlike  the  garrulous  and 
nervous  and  never-satisfied  old  bodies  of  the 

211 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

social  world  in  the  great  cities  in  which  he  had 
dwelt,  were  these  tranquil  and  serene  old  women 
here  !  They  were  beautiful  women,  beautiful  in 
body  as  in  soul.  They  literally  made  man  in  love 
with  old  age,  even  before  they  had  opened  their 
lips  to  speak  in  their  low,  sweet  fashion. 

And  these  benign  and  restful  men  !  He  began 
to  recall  the  old  men,  old  beaux,  roues,  whom 
he  had  encountered  in  London,  Paris,  Rome, — 
their  wrinkles,  powder,  paint ;  their  terror  at  the 
approaches  of  time  ;  their  dismay  at  the  thought 
of  death  ;  their  lies,  lies  on  their  lips,  lies  in  every 
act  of  their  lives,  their  lustful  lies  to  women, — 
their  whole  foul  and  most  despicable  existence. 

"Ah  me,"  thought  he, "  why  may  a  man  not 
grow  in  grandeur  as  he  grows  in  years,  like  the 
mighty  trees  of  the  forest  ?  Is  a  man  less  than 
a  tree  ?  Shall  a  man  who  is  made  in  God's 
image  make  himself  less  than  a  tree  ?  " 

"  We  meet  here,  or  in  some  other  like  pleas 
ant  place,  daily,"  began  one  of  the  most  vener 
able  men,  "  to  take  lessons.  We  are  children 
at  school,  you  see  ;"  and  he  smiled  pleasantly  on 
the  group  of  gray  heads  under  the  palms  round 

about. 

aia 


Lessons  Not  In  Books 

"  But  you  have  no  books." 

"  We  desire  thought  rather  than  books.  If 
Shakespeare  found  in  the  books  of  his  day  only 
4  words,  words,  words,'  what  shall  be  said  of  the 
books  now  that  deluge  the  earth  ?  " 

"  But  we  have  books  every  now  and  then  that 
gleam  like  lightning  through  a  cloud." 

"  Yes,  there  are  veins  of  gold  in  almost  every 
mountain,  glints  of  light  in  almost  every  storm- 
cloud,  as  you  suggest ;  but  why  have  the  storm 
at  all  ?  Why  labor  with  the  mountain  of  old 
errors  or  take  light  from  the  cloud,  when  the 
world  is  all  light  if  we  will  but  see  the  light  ?  " 

"And  books  will  not  help  you  to  see  the 
light  ?  " 

"  Hold  a  book  up  before  your  face  continually, 
and  how  much  of  the  sun  can  you  see  ?  "  asked 
the  old  man, earnestly.  "No, the  world  has  run  all 
to  words,  as  a  luxuriant  garden  runs  to  weeds  in 
the  autumn  ;  the  press,  the  pulpit — nearly  all 
words,  words,  words  !  "  said  the  old  man  finally. 

The  stranger  could  but  recall  the  protest  of 
Christ,  as  the  kindly  old  man  concluded  and 
was  silent.  He  remembered  that  enduring 
truths  have  been  born  in  the  desolate  places ; 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

that  the  Ten  Commandments  came  down  to  us 
out  of  the  most  savage  mountain  ever  seen ; 
that  Christ  grew  to  manhood  in  the  woods  of 
Nazareth ;  that  the  Koran  was  written  on 
storm-bleached  bones  in  a  cave  j  that  the  face 
of  God  was  seen  in  the  desert  only  of  old,  and 
that  it  was  only  to  a  houseless  boy  on  the  plains 
of  Shinar,  where  he  found  a  stone  for  a  pillow, 
that  the  ladder  of  heaven  was  let  down. 

u  The  one  main  duty  of  man  to  man  is  to 
convince  him  that  death  is  a  thing  not  to  be 
feared,  but,  in  its  ordinary  course,  to  be  desired 
above  all  things,"  said  the  master  of  the  quiet 
little  school ;  and  he  continued  :  "  To  convince 
him  of  this  he  must  be  convinced  of  his  immor 
tality.  He  must  not  only  be  convinced  of  his 
immortality,  but  he  must  be  convinced  that  he 
begins  life,  the  next  life,  precisely  where  he 
attains  to  in  this  ;  that  in  this  way,  and  this  way 
only,  is  it  possible  for  a  man  to  really  lay  up 
treasures  in  heaven.  And  to  convince  a  man  of 
his  immortality  and  of  the  preservation  of  his 
treasures  in  heaven  is  to  develop  the  best  that  is 
in  him  and  all  that  is  in  him.  In  order  that  all 
his  senses  may  be  developed,  he  must  return  to 


Lessons  Not  In  Books 

nature  and  nature's  God.  Why  should  the  silly 
sheep  have  sense  of  sight,  smell,  taste,  superior 
to  our  own  ?  Why  should  even  a  dog  be  able 
to  look  a  man  in  the  face,  or  smell  his  foot 
prints,  and  know  more  about  him  in  a  minute 
than  a  man  may  learn  in  a  year  ?  Not  long 
ago,  while  spending  the  night  among  the  cattle, 
so  that  I  might  learn  from  them,  I  saw  some 
rise  up  and  move  aside  and  look,  as  if  they  saw 
God  or  angels  pass ;  or  as  if  Christ  had  come 
again  to  companion  with  the  beasts  of  the  stalls." 

The  master  was  silent  a  time ;  then,  as  none 
of  his  companions  spoke,  but  all  seemed  inclined 
to  listen  further,  he  went  on  : 

"  Thousands  of  years  ago,  we  know  man 
met  God  and  the  angels  face  to  face ;  but  in 
grasping  after  gains,  going  out  to  battle,  culti 
vating  only  the  sense  of  acquisition  and  of  des 
truction,  man  has  fallen  behind  even  the  brute  in 
the  finer  senses  of  vision  and  apprehension  of 
the  beautiful  and  good.  But  here,  at  last,  after 
all  the  ages  of  blackness  and  brutality,  man 
finds  place  and  time  to  sit  down  and  meditate  in 
silence  and  soberness,  and  to  live  by  the  pre 
cepts  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount." 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

He  again  rested,  and  waited  for  the  words  of 
others.  As  no  one  spoke,  the  master  said  to 
them  : 

u  You  do  well  to  meet  daily,  to  meditate  con 
tinually  ;  for  never  had  man  such  responsibility  ; 
because  never  had  man,  since  that  other  Eden, 
such  opportunity.  You  do  well  to  leave  behind 
you  all  books,  the  dreary  history  of  continuous 
crimes  and  bloodshed  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
weary  round  of  lengthened  prayers  for  impossi 
ble  things  on  the  other  hand.  You  have  a  right 
to  be  happy,  continually  happy,  as  you  are  here. 
Nay,  more ;  I  assert  that  it  is  not  only  your 
right  to  be  happy,  but  it  is  your  duty  to  be 
happy ;  and  beyond  this  lies  the  boundless  duty 
to  the  world.  Let  us  follow  the  footprints  of 
Christ,  so  that  we  may  in  some  fair  day  over 
take  Christ,  and  then  will  the  sad  and  weary 
world  follow  in  our  footprints  and  be  glad  and 
be  good.  Let  us  cultivate  our  senses  by  pure 
and  peaceful  and  unselfish  lives,  till  we  at  length 
have  the  discernment  at  least  of  dumb  brutes. 
Let  us  teach  the  world  that  if  it  will  only  lift 
up  its  face  from  money-getting  on  earth  it 
may  see  God  in  heaven. 
216 


XXII.— -The  Truly  Brave 

AND  WHAT  for  the  man  who  went  forth  for  the  right, 
Was  hit  in  the  battle  and  shorn  of  a  limb  ? 
Why,  honor  for  him  who  falls  in  the  fight, 
Falls  wounded  of  limb  and  crippled  for  life  ; 
Give  honor,  give  glory,  give  pensions  for  him, 
Give  bread  and  give  shelter  for  babes  and  for  wife. 

But  what  for  the  hero  who  battles  alone 
In  battles  of  thought  where  God  set  him  down  ; 
Who  fought  all  alone  and  who  fell  overthrown 
In  his  reason  at  last  from  the  hardness  and  hate  ? 
Why,  jibe  him  and  jeer  him  and  point  as  you  frown 
To  that  lowly,  lone  hero  who  dared  challenge  fate. 

God  pity,  God  pardon,  and  God  help  us  all ! 
"  That  young  man  of  promise,"  wherever  he  be, 
"  That  young  man  of  promise,"  wherever  he  fall, — 
For  fall,  he  must  fall,  'tis  a  thousand  to  one, — 
Let  us  plant  him  a  rose  ;  let  us  plant  a  great  tree 
To  hide  his  poor  grave  from  the  world  and  the  sun. 

I  tell  you  'twere  better  to  cherish  that  soul — 
That  soldier  that  battles  with  thought  for  a  sword, 
That  climbs  the  steep  ramparts  where  wrong  has  control, 
And  falls  beaten  back  by  the  rude,  trampling  horde. 
Ay,  better  to  cherish  his  words  and  his  worth 
Than  all  the  Napoleons  that  ever  cursed  earth. 

1T   AM  going  to  the  hospital  before  breakfast 
A      to-morrow ;  it  lies  some  forty  miles  out  in 
the  mountains.     We  go  by  electric  train.     Will 
you  go  ?  " 
"  Gladly." 

217 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

"  But  ah,"  and  here  she  was  sad  and  thought 
ful,  u  this  is  a  sad  case  I  am  going  out  to  look 
after.  The  woman  is  a  friend  of  mine,  a 
princess  by  birth,  and  when  in  the  world,  the 
struggling  world  as  you  know  it,  she  was 
always  very  ambitious  of  distinction.  Thinking 
herself  cured  of  that,  or  rather  hoping  to 
become  quite  cured  of  it  here,  she  came  to  me 
only  a  year  ago.  But  alas  !  In  less  than  a 
year  after  her  arrival  she  grew  again  ambitious, 
and,  desiring  a  high  place  as  director,  she  grew 
so  desperate  as  to  tell  a  falsehood  to  some 
others,  who,  like  herself,  had  newly  come  and 
had  not  yet  grown  strong." 

"  And  she  was  detected  ?  " 

u  Oh,  no,  not  detected ;  not  nearly  so  bad  as 
that.  She  came  and  told  me  the  next  day ; 
and  she  then  went  and  told  all  to  whom  she  had 
talked ;  and  when  the  court  sat  in  judgment 
she  stood  up  and  made  public  confession. 
Then  she  condemned  herself  to  the  hospital  for 
half  a  year.  I  begged  the  judge  that  she  should 
not  be  permitted  to  sentence  herself  so  severely; 
but  the  judge  thought  the  punishment  none  too 
hard,  and  so  let  her  go  to  the  hospital  the  full 
218 


'The  Truly  Brave 

time  for  which  she  had  sentenced  herself." 
"  For  which  she  had  sentenced  herself  ?  " 
"  Yes.  You  see  our  hospital  here  for  mental 
maladies  and  physical  ailments  is  the  same. 
We  try  to  be  even  more  gentle  with  those  who 
have  maladies  of  the  mind  than  those  who  have 
ailments  of  the  body  ;  for  a  man  may  lose  a  limb 
and  yet,  if  his  mind  is  clear,  he  does  not  suffer 
nearly  so  much  as  one  with  an  afflicted  mind. 
Besides,  a  mental  ailment,  rare  with  us  for 
tunately,  is  much  more  subtile  and  hard  to  master 
than  a  physical  one.  Take  this  case  for 
example.  For  generations  back,  her  family,  a 
most  noble  Polish  one,  had  been  bitterly 
impoverished ;  and  you  can  easily  see  how  with 
their  pride  and  poverty  together  they  trans 
mitted  their  misery  to  this  poor  friend  of  mine 
who  is  now  serving  out  her  time  in  the  hospital." 
He  found  the  u  hospital "  a  sort  of  summer 
watering-place  ;  not  a  Newport  or  a  Saratoga, 
however.  It  was  a  Christian  place,  neither  noisy 
in  the  least  nor  devoted  to  any  sort  of  folly  to 
attract  attention.  All  the  invalids,  mental  or 
physical,  from  down  in  the  valley  were  here. 
The  new  mothers  were  in  a  similar  retreat 
219 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

further  on.  He  found  many  people  coming  and 
going,  these  fragrant  pine-groves  being  cooler 
and  the  air  more  invigorating  than  in  the  great 
valley  below.  All  the  mental  sick,  "  convicts  " 
we  call  them  in  Christian  lands,  kept  themselves 
at  some  sort  of  work  in  attending  on  the  physi 
cal  sick.  And  yet  the  numerous  visitors  kept 
heaping  attention  on  the  "  convicts " ;  more 
attention,  indeed,  did  they  receive  than  those 
who  had  only  bodily  ailments. 

He  was  so  enchanted  with  the  humanity,  the 
heart,  the  real  Christianity  in  all  he  saw  here, 
that  his  whole  soul  was  rilled  with  exultation  at 
the  possibilities  of  the  future. 

"  You  will  have  a  city  here,  such  a  city,  in 
magnitude  and  glory,  as  the  world  has  never 
seen,"  he  said,  as  they  walked  the  hospital 
grounds  together. 

Pausing  for  a  moment,  she  raised  her  head 
and  answered:  "  It  is  possible.  But  cities,  great 
cities,  as  a  rule,  should  not  be."  Then  she  said, 
after  a  moment's  silence:  "True,  we  must  have 
centers.  Each  division  of  the  earth,  natural  or 
artificial,  great  or  small,  must  have  a  common 
center,  a  heart.  The  hands,  the  feet,  all  have 


The  Truly  Brave 

their  functions  and  they  all  have  laws  of  health; 
but  with  the  means  of  transportation  without 
cost  within  the  reach  of  all,  great  cities  will  not 
be  built.  Population  in  the  outside  world  is 
growing  denser  because  of  the  greed  of  land 
lords  and  the  folly  of  granting  railway  privileges, 
which  makes  transportation  difficult.  With 
our  rapid  free  transit,  our  railways  supported 
out  of  the  rental  value  of  our  land,  we  keep 
our  city  like  a  garden,  as  you  see.  No,  I  would 
sweep  great  cities  like  New  York  and  London 
from  the  face  of  the  earth.  We  know  that 
sword  and  flood  and  flame  have  been  against 
cities  from  the  first  dawn  of  history.  Pesti 
lence,  the  very  hand  of  God,  has  ever  been 
turned  against  all  great  cities.  Children  die  in 
cities,  men  and  women  are  dwarfed  in  cities. 
No  great  man  has  ever  yet  been  born  in  a  great 
city.  A  city  is  a  sin  and  a  shame,  a  crime  against 
the  human  race.  Each  man  must  have  his  acre, 
his  vine  and  fig-tree,  his  place  of  retreat,  his  grove, 
his  temple,  his  shrine  where  he  may  pray,  may 
meditate,  may  be  all  himself." 

In  the  cool  of  the  evening  they  took  the  cars 
for  the  city. 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

"As  time  goes  by,"  said  the  good  angel  on 
their  descent  to  the  city, "  we  shall  have  much 
less  mental  sickness.  Take  for  example  this 
poor  friend  of  mine,  who,  happily,  is  now  about 
to  be  restored  to  us  entirely  healed.  Had  she, 
and  her  ancestors  as  well,  been  born  and  reared 
in  these  restful  ways,  no  such  sickness  would 
ever  have  overtaken  her.  As  for  bodily  sick 
ness,  that  is  partly  our  own  fault ;  but  death, 
all  know,  is  not  to  be  avoided  and  should  not 
be  undesired.  Yet  I  surely  think  that  mental 
sickness  can  be  swept  from  the  earth.  You 
remember  the  poor  nude  idiots  who  used  to  swim 
out  to  us  every  few  days  as  we  sailed  up  the 
Nile  ?  They  call  these  poor  creatures  God's 
people  there,  you  remember,  and  the  boatmen 
feed  them  and  care  for  them  as  best  they  can. 
We,  that  is,  civilized  Europe  and  America,  lock 
them  up  !  Out  here  we  hope  to  go  back  to  first 
causes  and  help  nature  to  make  the  crooked 
straight. 

"  And  bodily  illness,"  she  continued,  "  is  not 
to  be  wondered  at  when  we  consider  what  man 
has  done,  and  is  still  doing  in  most  of  the  world, 
to  destroy  himself.  Look  at  France  !  Russia  ! 


The  Truly  Brave 

Sixteen  hours  of  toil  in  all  sorts  of  weather,  and 
such  food !  food  that  is  scarcely  fit  for  wild 
beasts.  Still  man  must  have  exercise  if  he 
would  have  a  healthy  body.  I  observed,  when 
in  prison  with  my  poor  father,  that  all  who 
were  confined  esteemed  a  few  hours  of  exercise 
in  the  open  air  above  their  bread.  Every  man, 
as  a  rule,  who  is  shut  up  in  prison,  spends  from 
four  to  ten  hours  daily  in  pacing  up  and  down. 
So  it  became  clear  to  me  that  man's  body  de 
manded  at  least  six  hours  of  exercise.  Less 
than  this  would  be  fatal  to  his  health.  A  great 
excess  of  this  would  weary  him,  tax  him  too 
heavily,  and  so  leave  a  loophole  by  which 
disease  might  enter.  Now  we  find  here  that 
two  hours  of  work  in  the  fields  and  gardens  by 
each  man  will  more  than  feed  his  family.  This 
amazes  you,  I  know." 

u  He  may  work  twenty-four  hours  in  a  week, 
twenty-four  days  of  a  European  laborer's  work 
in  a  whole  year  and  have  all  the  rest  of  the 
year  for  study,  for  art,  for  development  ? " 
asked  the  man. 

"  If  he  does  that  work  daily,  yes.  But  we 
allow  no  taskmasters  here ;  all  is  voluntary. 
"3 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

After  each  day  of  public  work  a  man  goes  back 
to  his  house,  among  his  bees,  birds,  roses,  vines, 
with  his  children,  and  all  the  other  delightful 
things  that  go  to  refresh  mind  and  body  and 
make  interesting  the  spot  he  has  set  apart  as  his 
home." 

Shortly  after  this  delightful  day,  as  the  weather 
grew  warmer  in  the  city,  they  once  more  visited 
the  pleasant  and  refreshing  pines  on  the  moun 
tain-side.  And  here  they  walked  and  they  talked 
as  before. 

"  Would  you  care  to  walk  a  little  further  on 
among  the  pines  ?  " 

She  said  this  seriously,  looking  in  his  face  in 
a  quiet  and  inquiring  way,  and  for  answer  he 
moved  on  at  her  side  in  silence. 

Half  an  hour,  up  the  hill  and  over  the  hill, 
through  the  tall,  open  pines,  and  he  saw  before 
them,  in  a  wooded  depression  of  the  landscape 
through  which  a  little  mountain  stream  wound 
in  the  long,  strong  grass,  a  few  scattering  graves 
where  roses  grew  in  careless  profusion.  Some 
deer  were  feeding  on  the  slope  of  the  hill  a  little 
beyond,  and  beyond  these,  higher  on  the  sloping 
hill  where  the  pines  stood  dark  and  dense,  he 
224 


The  Truly  Brave 

saw  what  at  first  seemed  to  be  several  large, 
old-fashioned  marble  tombs. 

"  No,  they  are  not  tombs,"  she  said  softly. 
"  These  are  simply  heaps  of  sweet-smelling  pine- 
wood  kept  ready  for  men  and  women  of 
advanced  thought  whom  we  have  among  us." 

"  Funeral  pyres  ? " 

"  Even  so.  You  will  understand  that  here 
with  us  in  this  new  order  of  things  there  is 
nothing  arbitrary.  Minds  have  different  degrees 
of  development.  Some  have  ascended  high, 
some  higher  still ;  while  many  of  us  stand  at 
the  bottom  of  the  hill  and  see  the  plain  of  life 
only  from  the  dead  level  of  custom.  And  so 
each  looks  at  life,  and  death  also,  from  his  or 
her  own  standpoint.  Some  of  us  still  want 
priests  to  lean  upon  ;  some  of  us  still  at  times 
are  weak  enough  to  want  to  worship  idols  or 
even  the  golden  calf;  and  so,  equal  freedom  is 
accorded  all,  for  out  of  freedom  will  come  real 
development,  and  every  secure  step  upward 
must  be  of  gradual  ascent ;  because  there  is 
danger  of  the  weak  growing  weary  and  of  falter 
ing  by  the  way  or  turning  back." 

u  Ah,  I  see,"  he  said.     "  Here  conspicuously 

15  ^^s 


'The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

in  the  front  are  the  graves  of  those  who  claim 
attention  even  in  the  tomb." 

"  That  is  it,"  she  sadly  answered,  as  she 
looked  about  and  on  up  the  hill  beyond  into  the 
deep,  dark  shadows.  "  But  up  yonder,  in  the 
silence  and  obscurity,  the  remains  of  those  who 
have  outgrown  such  folly,  like  Charles  Dickens, 
Lord  Houghton,  and  others  who  begged  for 
simple  burial,  are  laid  on  the  fragrant  wood  as 
soon  as  may  be  after  the  breath  has  left  the 
body,  in  the  same  garments,  in  the  garments  in 
which  death  finds  them.  A  flash,  a  flame ;  and 
they  are  of  the  clouds  and  ashes." 


226 


XXIII.— Going 

WHAT  if  we  all  lay  dead  below  ; 

Lay  as  the  grass  lies,  cold  and  dead 
In  God's  own  holy  shroud  of  snow, 

With  snow-white  stones  at  foot  and  head, 
With  all  earth  dead  and  shrouded  white 
As  clouds  that  cross  the  moon  at  night  ? 

What  if  that  infidel  some  night 

Could  then  rise  up  and  see  how  dead, 

How  wholly  dead  and  out  of  sight 

All  things  with  snows  sown  foot  and  head 

And  lost  winds  wailing  up  and  down 

The  emptied  fields  and  emptied  town  ? 

I  think  that  grand  old  infidel 

Would  rub  his  hands  with  fiendish  glee, 

And  say  :   "I  knew  it,  knew  it  well ! 
I  knew  that  death  was  destiny  ; 

I  ate,  I  drank,  I  mocked  at  God, 

Then  as  the  grass  was,  and  the  sod." 

Ah  me,  the  grasses  and  the  sod, 

They  are  my  preachers.      Hear  them  preach 

When  they  forget  the  shroud,  and  God 
Lifts  up  these  blades  of  grass  to  teach 

The  resurrection  !     Who  shall  say 

What  infidel  can  speak  as  they  ? 

NEARLY  half  a  year  had  swept  by. 
"  You  are  thinking  of  going  away,"  she 
said,    as    they    walked    together    by    the    great 
fountain  that  burst  up  from  the  old  Toltec  ruins 

227 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

near  her  door ;  for  she  was  not  strong  enough 
to  walk  further  now.  It  was  in  the  afternoon. 

"  You  knew  my  thoughts,  then  ?  " 

"  You  are  going  away  if, — if  I  go." 

"  Yes." 

"  I  will  go  with  you."  She  said  this,  not 
sadly,  but  almost  cheerfully,  as  she  leaned 
heavily  on  his  arm  on  turning  to  her  door. 

There  were  those  here  who  made  one  in  love 
with  old  age ;  but  this  woman  was  making  him 
in  love  with  death. 

"  You  are  going  back  to  the  work  that  is 
before  you  !  I  will  go  with  you."  And  that 
is  all  she  said  about  his  going  or  staying ;  but 
he  felt  that  it  was  her  desire  that  he  should  go. 

"  I  know  so  many  weak  and  weary  people 
who  would  be  glad  to  come  to  this  Paradise," 
he  said.  "  As  for  myself,  I  am  strong  now. 
I  will  go  back  to  my  work,  but  shall  I  not  be 
permitted  to  send  some  whom  I  know,  out  of 
the  shadow,  to  this  fervid  sunlight  of  yours  ?  " 

She  raised  her  hand  with  effort,  and,  pointing 

to  some  pale  weeds    that   grew  in  a  dark  and 

shaded  corner  beneath  the  broad  banana-leaves, 

she  bade  him,  more  by  sign  than  word,  to  pull 

228 


Going 

them  from  the  ground  and  lay  them  before  her 
in  the  sun.  He  did  so,  and  they  laid  their 
drooping  heads  down  on  the  hot  sands  and  died. 

"  You  see,"  she  said  ;  "  and  yet  our  choicest 
flowers  are  only  cultivated  weeds.  Pull  them 
up  and  place  them  in  the  sun  suddenly,  and  you 
do  not  help  them ;  you  simply  kill  them.  It  is 
well  to  have  great  examples  like  this,  our  City 
Beautiful,  but  the  world  must  improve  itself 
slowly,  naturally,  by  force  of  the  example  we 
have  set  of  freedom,  truth,  and  justice.  No, 
we  must  have  strong  pillars,  like  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers,  and,  God  willing,  we  shall  have  a 
temple  reared  in  time  that  will  shelter  all." 

She  rested  for  a  long  time  now.  Finally  she 
said :  "  You  will  go  up  to  the  hospital  and 
remain — remain  until  you  see  a  sign." 

He  bowed  silently  in  assent ;  for  she  was  too 
near  the  other  world  for  him  to  question  now 
or  make  any  protest.  Then  she  said  : 

"  I  like  those  people  up  there ;  I  like  the 
guilty  ones,  those  whom  you  call  convicts ;  but 
we  do  not  call  them  that.  Why,  when  one  of 
your  poor  unfortunate  people  is  accused  of 
crime,  the  State,  the  State's  attorney,  the  whole 

129 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

power  of  the  State  is  exerted,  and  no  pains  or 
money  spared  to  prove  that  man  guilty, — as  if 
it  were  a  good  thing  for  the  State  to  have  a 
guilty  man  !  Ah,  how  you  forget  that  '  it  is 
better  that  ten  guilty  ones  escape  than  that  one 
innocent  man  should  suffer/  With  us  the 
attorney  for  the  State  does  his  best  to  make  it 
appear  that  the  accused  is  not  guilty." 

She  was  exhausted  now  and  breathed  with 
effort.  Yet  it  seemed  as  if  with  her  last  breath 
she  must  teach  this  most  important  lesson. 
After  a  time  she  added  : 

"  What  a  pity  that  all  the  State  should  array 
itself  against  one  man,  bound  in  irons,  in  an  iron 
tomb,  as  if  it  were  a  glorious  thing  for  the  State 
to  find  one  of  its  people  with  mind  so  weak  or 
morals  so  weak  that  he  fell  into  the  pit  of  temp 
tation."  She  was  silent  a  long  time,  then  said : 

"  You  will  go  now.  Good-bye  again  j  good 
bye." 

He  arose  and  stood  before  her.  He  fell  on 
his  knees  and  took  her  hand.  "  You  feel  cer 
tain,  confident,  confident  that  Christ  is  the 
Savior  of  the  world  ?  "  he  cried  ;  for  he  felt  that 
she  was  surely  dying. 

130 


Going 

Steadily,  and  with  a  strange  light  in  her  eyes, 
as  if  it  might  be  the  light  of  another  world,  she 
looked  him  long  and  silently  in  the  face.  Then 
she  said  slowly  and  in  a  voice  so  soft  and  low  : 

"  Yes,  yes,  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Savior  of  the 
world ;  but  Jesus  Christ  died  to  save  man  from 
man, — not  to  save  man  from  God." 

He  kissed  her  hand  tenderly  in  silence,  and 
in  tears  passed  out. 


231 


XXIV.— Put  Up  Thy  Sword 

AND  WHO  the  bravest  of  the  brave  ; 

The  bravest  hero  ever  born  ? 
'Twas  one  who  dared  a  felon's  grave, 

Who  dared  to  bear  the  scorn  of  scorn. 
Nay,  more  than  this  ;  when  sword  was  drawn 

And  vengeance  waited  for  His  word, 
He  looked  with  pitying  eyes  upon 

The  scene,  and  said  :   "  Put  up  thy  sword." 
Oh  God  !   could  one  be  found  to-day 

As  brave  to  do,  as  brave  to  say  ? 

"  Put  up  thy  sword  into  his  sheath." 

Put  up  thy  sword,  put  up  thy  sword  ! 
By  Cedron's  brook  thus  spake  beneath 

The  olive-trees  our  valiant  Lord, 
Spake  calm  and  king-like.      Sword  and  stave 

And  torch,  and  stormy  men  of  death 
Made  clamor.      Yet  he  spake  not,  save 

With  loving  word  and  patient  breath, 
The  peaceful  olive-boughs  beneath  : 
'*  Put  up  thy  sword  into  his  sheath." 

ABASHED   that   he  had  remained  so          ^ 
knowing  as  he  did  that  this  inspired  soul 
was  about  to  enter  upon  another  life,  the  man 
hastened    to   take   the  first  conveyance   to   the 
mountains  of  pine. 

"  You  will  remain  there  till  you  see  a  sign." 
He  kept  saying  this  as  he  went  his  way  speak- 


Put  Up  Thy  Sword 

ing  to  no  one.  He  had  been  with  her.  His 
soul,  his  whole  self,  this  day  at  least,  must  be 
his  own  and  inviolate.  He  did  not  go  directly 
to  the  hospital,  to  men,  but  to  the  woods,  to 
God. 

Some  scarlet  berries,  red  with  the  blood  of 
the  dying  autumn,  wreathed  the  moss-made  tomb 
of  a  prone  monarch  of  the  mountains,  on  which 
he  sat.  All  was  silent,  so  silent,  save  a  far, 
faint  melody  that  came  up  the  mountain-side 
through  the  pines,  came  fitfully  on  the  wind, 
as  one  that  is  weary  and  would  go  home  to 
rest. 

The  tawny  carpet  of  pine-quills  grew  golden 
as  the  sun  lay  level  and  in  spars  and  bars  and 
beams  about  him.  The  huge  and  lofty  trunks 
of  the  mighty  pine-trees  on  the  mountains 
round  about  took  on  a  hue  of  gold  as  the  sun 
fell  down.  The  foliage  all  about  grew  red, 
then  gold,  then  yellow.  The  carpet  of  pine- 
quills,  reaching  miles  and  miles  away  on  either 
hand  far  up  the  mountains  beyond,  became  gold, 
a  broken,  billowy  sea  of  molten  gold.  And  as 
he  sat  there,  throned  amid  this  mobile  sea  of  fra 
grant  yellow,  of  color  so  perfect  that  it  was 
233 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

not  only  color,  but  form ;  form,  perfume  and 
melody  also;  he  not  only  saw  this  color,  he 
heard  it.  An  hour  passed. 

Then  suddenly,  as  be  thought  of  her,  he  saw  a 
form,  at  first  vaguely,  dimly,  the  yellow  form  and 
comely  shape  of  a  desert  lion  standing,  waiting, 
removed  from  him  but  by  a  little  space. 

I  know  not  why  this  type  of  strength,  defiant  of 
custom  and  restraint,  should  have  again  appeared. 
I  only  say  that  it  was  so,  and  pass  on.  All  things 
in  life  and  death  lie  in  circles.  A  woman' 's  weak 
ness  is  her  strength. 

And  even  as  he  looked,  the  sinking  sun  came 
softly  through  the  forest  boughs,  a  long,  slanting 
shaft  of  light,  and  laid  a  sword  of  fading  fire  at 
his  feet. 

Day  had  surrendered  to  night,  light  to  dark 
ness,  mortality  to  immortality. 

He  remained  alone  all  night  in  the  warm 
woods,  but  saw  no  further  sign.  It  was  enough. 

With  the  dawn  there  came  up  the  mountain 
side  the  sweetest,  saddest  melodies  ever  known. 
It  was  the  funeral  train. 

He  took  an  old  man  aside.     They  rested  a 


Put  Up  Thy  Sword 

time  beneath  the  pines.  He  implored  him  to 
tell  all,  all.  «  What  did  she  say  ?  What  did 
she  do  ?  All,  all,— tell  me  all !  "  But  the  old 
man  seemed  dazed.  He  kept  silent  for  some 
time.  At  last  he  spoke  : 

"  I  went  to  her  immediately  as  you  left  her. 
I  can  hardly  recall  her  words.  They  were 
words  of  fire  and  gold.  '  Prove  to  me,  to  the 
world,  that  man  shall  surely  rise,'  I  cried.  She 
half  turned  away  her  face  as  in  reproach  at  first, 
but  soon,  looking  tenderly  at  me,  she  said  in  a 
low,  firm  voice :  c  Nay,  I  cannot  quite  prove  to 
you  that  man  shall  rise  after  death.  I  cannot 
quite  prove  to  you  that  yonder  setting  sun  will 
rise  to-morrow ;  but  I  surely,  surely  believe  it 
will  rise  ' ;  and  then  she  made  a  sign  that  I  must 
leave  her  to  meet  God,  alone.  After  a  little 
time  young  musicians  came  as  had  been  their 
custom,  and  played  before  her  door  under  the 
palm-trees.  And  then  there  came  many  singers, 
and  they  sang,  sang  as  the  musicians  played,  and 
the  sun  went  down.  Then  suddenly  we  heard 
her  voice,  like  a  thread  of  gold  in  the  woof  of 
harmony,  woven  in  with  a  most  cunning  hand. 
We  had  never  heard  her  sing  before.  It  was, 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

perhaps,  her  first  as  it  was  her  last  song :  the 
dying  swan. 

"  There  are  many  birds  and  of  many  hues, 
as  you  well  know,  in  the  foliage  of  the  court 
there.  Well,  as  the  song  ceased  and  the  music 
died  away,  an  old  man,  older  and  better  than  I, 
and  so  able  to  see  more  of  better  things  than  I 
can  see,  saw  a  bird,  a  wide-winged  bird,  and 
white  like  snow.  And  after  circling  above  our 
heads,  it  flew  out  through  the  wide,  high  trees 
into  the  falling  night.  That  was  all.  We 
bowed  low  our  heads  and  wept  in  pity  for 
ourselves." 

Our  city-builder  of  the  mountain-side  remem 
bering  having  heard  her  deplore  the  sad  habit  of 
the  world  in  staring  at  the  wan,  worn  faces  of 
the  helpless  dead,  overcame  this  last  desire,  as 
he  had  overcome  others  through  her  teachings 
and  example,  and  saw  her  face  of  clay  never 
more. 

And  yet  he  felt,  knew,  knew  positively  all  the 
while,  that  she  would  come  to  him,  sooner  or 
later,  if  he  only  kept  his  soul  refined  and  fit  to 
see  her ;  and  more  than  that,  he  knew  that  she 
would  come  to  him  in  her  perfection,  as  she  was 
236 


Put  Up  Thy  Sword 

when  she  touched  the  high-tide  mark  of  health 
and  perfection  of  form  and  face ;  for  this  is  in 
the  order  of  nature.  The  tide  shall  ever  touch 
its  topmost  limit.  The  human  soul  shall  not 
be  less  than  the  sea. 

Knowing  all  this,  knowing  that  she  would 
have  given  back  to  her  all  that  had  been  taken 
away,  and  that  she,  and  all  others  who  love 
sincerely,  would  begin  the  next  life  at  the  high- 
tide  mark  in  this,  and  knowing,  surely  knowing 
that  he  should  see  her  thus,  how  careful  was  he 
to  say  naught,  do  naught  that  would  make  him 
less  worthy  to  lift  his  face  to  hers. 

They  bore  her  form  up,  up  to  her  mountain 
side,  mantled  close  in  the  robes  in  which  she 
died,  and  none  were  cruel  enough  to  seek  to 
look  into  her  tired  face. 

There  was  a  depression  in  the  great  heap  of 
sweet-smelling  pine  that  lay  furthest  up  the  hill 
beyond  the  hospital,  and  here  they  laid  the  body. 

A  flame,  a  long,  vapory  cloud  of  smoke  toss 
ing  to  the  pine-tops,  and  all  turned  away.  No 
more  cost  and  no  more  care, — a  little  heap  of 
ashes  !  and  around  the  edges  of  this  little  burned 
237 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

spot  tall,  slim  grasses  came  to  stand  in  circle 
soon,  and  shy,  wild  flowers  joined  their  hands 
and  drooped  their  heads  there  tearfully  when 
the  rains  had  come. 

u  So  you  are  going  away  to-night  ?  Well, 
the  Gulf  Stream  of  the  upper  seas  is  reversed 
at  this  season.  The  Japan  currents  flow 
towards  us  in  the  first  few  months,  but  later 
in  the  year,  as  now,  Alaska  draws  on  us  for 
heat  and  things  are  reversed.  You  will  have 
quite  as  pleasant  sailing  back  as  when  you 
came." 

This  was  the  venerable  man  who  had  seen 
the  cattle  rise  up  in  the  fields  at  night,  as  if  God 
was  walking  by.  So  fine  were  his  senses  that 
he  had  only  to  come  into  your  atmosphere  to 
know  your  thought.  They  were  walking  up 
the  mountain.  Without  a  word  the  man  lifted 
his  eyes.  The  car  of  the  air-ship  swung  graceful 
as  a  pine-cone  in  the  gathering  wind  at  the  high 
platform  from  which  he  had  descended  on  com 
ing  to  the  place.  They  passed  up  together  in 
silence.  What  need  of  words  ? 

Grasping    the   old    man's    hand,   he   stepped 


Put  Up  Thy  Sword 

within  the  car  and  was  about  taking  his  seat 
when,  with  a  boom  as  if  being  propelled  by 
sound,  the  car  bounded  away  above  the  clouds 
and  held  her  course  strong  and  steady  toward 
the  north. 

He  sank  into  his  seat,  bowed  his  head,  and 
moaned  :  "  She  said  she  would  be  with  me  !  " 

After  a  time  he  lifted  his  face,  for  he  felt  that 
he  was  not  alone,  and  lo  !  there  she  sat  before 
him,  in  all  the  splendor  of  youth  and  strength 
and  divinity  of  presence.  All  the  majesty  of 
perfect  womanhood  was  with  her  now.  Never, 
indeed,  had  he  seen  her  so  radiantly,  so  imperi 
ously  beautiful.  The  same  sweet  touch  of 
tenderness,  the  same  pathos  and  pity  in  the 
Madonna  face,  it  is  true ;  but  over  and  above 
this  there  was  a  sense  of  strength  and  directness 
and  immortality,  such  as  you  feel  when  the  sun 
is  rising. 

She  did  not  speak ;  for  oh,  how  futile,  lame, 
harsh,  and  angular  are  words !  The  use  of 
words  shall  pass  away,  is  passing. 

Why,  know  you  not  soul  speaks  to  soul  ? 
I  say  the  use  of  words  shall  pass — 
Words  are  but  fragments  of  the  glass, 

But  silence  is  the  perfect  whole. 
239 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

She  did  not  speak,  but  her  soul  continually 
said  to  his  soul :  "  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at 
hand."  And  it  was  said  as  if  in  a  great  court 
of  woods  and  falling  waters,  with  walls  of  sap 
phire,  where  hung,  in  letters  of  fire  and  gold, 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  and  the  Lord's 
Prayer. 

He  did  not  mistake  their  meaning.  He  would 
go  forward  and  these  should  guide  him  still. 
All  Israel  was  forty  years  in  the  wilderness,  and 
he  had  been  but  five.  Surely  he  should,  he 
could,  and  he  would  gather  strength  and  go 
forward.  For  she  had  annihilated  the  vast 
space  that  had  been  so  long  between  heaven  and 
earth  and  had  brought  them  almost  together — 
"  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand." 

She  did  not  speak ;  and  yet  her  soul  spoke  as 
certainly  in  its  calm,  sweet  fashion,  wisely, 
silently  ;  the  wisdom  of  earth  in  earthly  things, 
the  glory,  the  beauty,  the  peace  of  heaven 
over  all. 

"  I  leave  my  peace  with  you."  "  The  king 
dom  of  heaven  is  at  hand." 

And  her  soul  said  to  his  soul :  "  Service  is  the 
handmaiden  of  heaven.  Let  the  Christian  run 
240 


Put  Up  Thy  Sword 

forward  with  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  in  hand, 
swift-footed  to  meet  her.  Only  see  to  it  that 
the  newly-emancipated  slave  does  not  fall  into  a 
deeper  servitude.  For  man,  intoxicated  with 
opportunity,  still  believes  that  opulence  is  happi 
ness.  They  are  fastening  again  the  broken 
chains,  and  gathering  gold  as  never  was  gold 
gathered  before. 

"  It  was  the  toiler,  not  the  money-changer, 
who  taught  the  lightnings  to  talk,  created  light 
out  of  space,  and  from  the  airy,  white  vapors  of 
heaven  called  into  existence  the  thundering 
black  cavalry  of  commerce  by  land  and  by  sea. 
Take  care  that  this  emancipated  toiler  is  not 
made  the  slave  of  his  own  creations  by  blind, 
intoxicated  money-changers.  See  to  it  that  all 
toil,  that  none  but  the  helpless  live  on  the  toil 
of  others." 

Such  were  the  woman's  thoughts,  words,  as 
they  seemed  to  sail  and  sail  by  the  porch  of 
heaven  above  the  clouds  as  before.  Then  they 
passed  down,  down  and  through  the  clouds,  and 
it  was  almost  light. 

And  daring  to  look  full  in  her  face  by  the 
coming  light  he  saw  a  star,  then  the  star  only, 
1 6  241 


The  Building  of  the  City  Beautiful 

the  bright  and  beautiful  morning  star  to  the 
east,  through  the  dove-colored  leaves  of  his 
olive-trees. 

Then  as  he  grew  stronger  and  looked  more 
steadily  he  saw  the  star  fade  into  a  dim  halo 
from  out  of  which  appeared  the  divinely  beau 
tiful,  earnest  and  prophetic  face  of  his  venerable 
mother.  She  was  looking  at  him  as  one  who 
sits  at  a  bedside  and  tenderly  watches  the  face 
of  some  poor  sufferer.  Then,  as  if  taking  up 
in  the  full  dawn  the  word  Failure  where  he  had 
laid  it  down  in  darkness,  she  said  softly  : 

"  My  son,  there  is  no  failure,  there  can  be  no 
failure  for  those  who  really  try.  The  only  fail 
ure  possible  in  life  is  the  failure  to  try,  and  per 
sistently  try,  for  the  best.  The  good,  the  glory, 
the  consolation  of  it  all  is  in  the  ennobling  effort. 
Let  us  bravely  leave  results  to  Him." 

The  man  at  once  arose  and  stood  by  the  beau 
tiful  mother  with  the  soft  voice  and  deep,  seer 
eyes  and  was  filled  and  thrilled  with  her  patient 
strength  and  splendid  courage. 

And  he  joyed  there  on  his  stony  steep  and 
went  to  his  toil  with  content  and  courage  and 
a  broad,  deep  charity  in  his  heart.  A  dove  sang 
242 


Put  Up  Thy  Sword 

from  an  olive-tree,  the  dove  and  the  olive-branch 
together  as  of  old,  and  the  man  sang  with  the 
dove  that  day  and  all  days.  For  had  he  not  seen 
her  ?  Whether  she  was  of  heaven  or  of  earth, 
who  should  say  ?  But  surely  he  had  been  with 
her  entirely,  and  this  was  the  unuttered  song  of 
his  heart.  He  sang  silently,  for  what  human 
voice  can  approach  the  plaintive  and  tender 
voice  of  the  dove  ?  But  here  is  the  song  of 
his  heart: 

Come  listen,  O  love,  to  the  voice  of  the  dove, 

Come  barken  and  hear  him  say  : 
"  There  are  many  to-morrows,  my  love,  my  love, 
There  is  only  one  to-day. '  * 

And  all  day  long  you  can  hear  him  say  : 

"  This  day  in  purple  is  rolled  ; 
And  the  baby  stars  of  the  Milky  Way : 
They  are  cradled  in  cradles  of  gold. " 


THE    END 


Printed  at  THE  BRANDT  PRESS,  Trenton^  New  Jertey,  U.  S.  A. 

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